The Loss of Dusk to Dawn
by KasumiGirl
Summary: When the vampires came out of hiding, everyone expected a war... no one expected the humans to be winning. There are two sides: vampire and human, what happens when those lines are blurred? EnglandxIndia and ChinaxHong Kong (Title was changed!)
1. FAQ and Extra Information

**WARNING: THIS PAGE CONTAINS Possible SPOILERS FOR THE ENTIRE STORY! YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!**

**About the Vampires in _The Loss of __Dusk to Dawn_ and other FAQ: **

**The Vampires:**

These vampires can survive in the sunlight, cross running water, and silver does not burn them. The only sure way to kill a vampire is to put an object all the way through their heart or obliterate that organ. Hence, some rely on using fortified stakes to kill a vampire, but technically bullets would work just as well. The reason that a vampire can survive any other injury save for that, is that a vampire's heart will continue to beat no matter what damage has occurred to other parts of the body. The continuing flow of blood allows a vampire to regenerate from the injuries, though the more serious the wound the longer it will take to heal.

Even though not drinking blood won't kill a vampire, they will eventually be driven insane from starvation and grow very, very weak from lack of proper nutrition. When Blood Blocking first came into existence and vampires began to starve, they would turn on their own kind and to protect themselves, the remaining vampires who could stave off the insanity, were forced to kill the sick.

Vampires can taste blood-related illnesses when they are drinking from a person. A healthy person with a good diet will have better tasting blood than an unhealthy individual with a poor diet. Blood type has nothing to do with it. Neither does being a virgin.

In order to become a vampire, the human must be drained nearly completely, and then be made to drink the blood of the vampire who is to become their Sire. Once enough blood has been exchanged the Sire must then kill the human, allowing the new blood to invade all systems of the body allowing reincarnation as a vampire. It is the action of being killed that under the best circumstances; the human and vampire would talk about being comfortable with this dark bond and mentally prepare for it. However, throughout history most humans do not get this luxury as being made a vampire is out of an act of desperation. Humans who have had their Blood Blocked cannot be made into a vampire. The taste of their blood will make a vampire sick and if they attempt to drink a vampire's blood their body would treat it like a virus.

Once a person is made into a vampire they take on the name of their Sire along with maintaining their own. Sort of like Western marriage naming traditions. However, once this Fledgling makes their own vampire they have the option of either giving them their Sire's name or bestowing their original surname to the former human.

**Terms found in this Fanfiction:**

Feeder- a human that is responsible for providing blood to vampires. Commonly, they have had their blood Extended.

Blood Extension- a counter measure to blood Blocking, it allows a human's blood cells to multiply at an exaggerated rate, allowing multiple vampires to feed from one human without negative side effects. However, if too much time passes between feedings the human could die.

Blood Blocking - a syrum that makes the blood inedible to vampires. When a vampire drinks the blood of a person who has their blood Blocked they will feel sick. A Blocked person cannot become a vampire.

Praetor- the leader of a coven.

Coven- a group of vampires.

Fledgling - the 'child' of another vampire Example: Leon is Arthur's Fledgling because Arthur turned him into a vampire

Sire - the 'parent' of another vampire

******FAQ:**

****None yet...


	2. Chapter 1

Location: Lower Town of Le Havre, France

'Safe House 98'

Once a city of nearly 300,000, it had been reduced to less than 10,000 in just over a year. Many humans and vampires alike had attempted a mass exodus, spreading out through Europe after the Great Britain Massacre. Because of its location near the ocean Le Havre had become a blood soaked ghost town. Not to mention the location of one of the many human bases that manned the coast lines of countries and continents around the world. Everyone believed that this city was emptied of vampires, but they could not be more wrong. Le Havre's ville basse, or lower city, was home to many 'safe houses' where vampire-friendly human inhabitants lingered. The pair of shadows slipping into a lone house in the former marshland knew the secrets that lie inside.

Safe House 98 was one of the few, with a 'Special Addition': the entrance to a series of complex tunnels created by vampires in case the war turned against their favor. These tunnels would lead to an underground stronghold, a place for the vampires and their human supporters to re-group and come back strong against the human elitists. Moving through the simple house, two human-like shadows moved quietly down into the basement. Occasionally a stair would creek, causing them to freeze for a split second before moving on. Eyes wide in the darkness they groped their way to the base of the stairs. Only once they had reached the bottom did they dare to turn on the single light that illuminated an empty, packed dirt floored room. The walls were made of stone and if one wasn't looking closely, they could easily miss the perfect outline that betrayed a hidden door.

In the light of a naked bulb, the pair of shadows became a pair of men. Both were slighter, a little thinner, and a little more worn down from years of fighting and being on the run. One, Raj Singh, was dark skinned with straight black hair that was cut to brush his ears. The other, Arthur Kirkland, was pale with unruly blond hair and bright green eyes. Two hours ago the message had come in that the vampires, against what everyone had anticipated, were withdrawing and retreating. The humans had the upper hand and if all vampires and the humans loyal to them didn't get out now, well Raj didn't even want to think about it.

They settled down on the floor of the basement to await the arrival of other retreaters and to be allowed into the tunnels. Raj fished into his bag, pulling out a blood packet. "Are you hungry?"

His friend looked down at the small bag and grimaced, "No thank you."

Arthur was always stubborn. When the vampire masses had been forced into feeding off of packets of blood to survive the English vampire had outright refused. Rather than degrade himself he chose instead to starve, or feed off any of the humans unfortunate enough to attack them as they made their way to the safe houses.

Just over five years ago, the vampires had come out of hiding. For some humans, like Raj, had already allied and made friends with the other species, it had not been a shocking, or unwelcomed, turn of events. The rest of the world did not share their feelings. It was foolish not to expect a war, many people even planned on it. Stocking up their houses. Arming themselves. The vampires had been planning longer than a couple years; they had been preparing for their coming out and the consequences of doing so for centuries. That was why they'd selected certain families to join alliances with. These humans should the war turned south, as it unfortunately did, would serve as feeders. Feeders were humans that provided blood for vampires. Though some casualties were expected, no one believed that the vampires could be beaten… And for the first three years of war it seemed as though the fanged species would be victorious.

That was before blood blocking. A human scientist from America had developed a serum that acted like a vaccine; it triggered something in a vampire's system, like the weak strain of a virus. A Blocked human's blood was inedible. Once the serum became mass produced it was over. Vampires were starving to death, their numbers dwindling. Slowly, humans began to take back the world. North America first, followed by most of Europe, Africa, and then Oceana. Whole countries were wiped of their vampire populations.

Thankfully, there was a series of knocks from behind the wall, pulling the two men out of their heads and back into reality. After answering the pattern, the panel slipped open, revealing a taller man with his blond hair pulled back. Looking around, the man glanced at Raj and his companion in the other corner.

"Oh, are only the two of you left, cher?" The French vampire didn't bother to address the human right away; his only concern was the other vampire in the room. "Are you ready to go? I need to seal this place off unless you'd rather take your chances."

Arthur, the other vampire, replied with a hollow tone. "Yes, I believe it's time to... make our escape." He hated it. Hated the way things were for them now. He glanced over at the French vampire, expression never changing. He turned to Raj, expression softening for just a moment before saying, "Well, let's gets going, then."

He heaved a long, saddened sigh as he took one last glance around the area. Clenching his hands into fists, he silently cursed the humans. Cursed them for what they had done to his species. Not Raj, of course. Raj supported them. But... everyone else... ugh, he did not want to think about it. Instead, he turned back to the French vampire and asked, "Well, are we getting out of here or not?"

"Of course, of course..." Francis said, motioning for them to follow him back down the tunnel. "Follow this path. I'll catch up with you."

Glancing at Arthur, Raj nodded and started down the tunnel with the green-eyed vampire close behind him. Francis sealed the opening behind them and he could hear the other man doing something to the wall. The Indian glanced over at Arthur, eyes worried, and asked, "Are you all right?"

Nodding his head, Arthur replied tersely with, "I'm fine." A bit of a lie, really. He felt sick to his stomach over all of this, and as each day passed, more hatred had built up inside the restless vampire. He turned, trying to be a bit more polite as he asked, "What about you, Raj? Is everything okay? It can't be easy, defying the other humans like you are." Yes, he definitely respected the man walking beside him.

He continued walking, eyes traveling all over the tunnel. Not because there was anything interesting to see, really, but because he wanted to distract himself. He did not want to get too upset, after all. Not when they had to focus everything on getting out of here.

Raj sighed, worrying his lower lip between his teeth as he thought this question over. Was he all right? At last he nodded, "Yes... yes, I'm all right. I know that I'm making the right decision." Human or vampire, they didn't deserve to be oppressed in any way. This war was destroying everything.

Arthur smiled at the other. "I'm glad you've made this choice, Raj. We need as much help as we can ge, human or vampire. Having someone like you on our side is probably the only thing keeping me sane at the moment." Indeed, for the past few days he had been having the urge to just... go on a rampage, really, killing as many humans as he could get a hold of. It would end badly, he knew, but he was just so upset. Having someone like Raj - a human that actually believed in his species - with him certainly made things feel a little less hopeless.

"It's nothing. I couldn't stand seeing your species harmed this way," Raj said. "You guys aren't animals." He added, knowing that it was a struggle for Arthur to control his anger. Raj had seen that during his time with the vampire... they'd come across a troop of humans before finding the safe house. It was because of Arthur that they'd managed to get out alive.

Sighing again, he heard Francis catch up with them. Grinning, the blue-eyed blond said, "Don't worry, I'll get you guys out of here." The other vampire then asked Arthur, "Not to pry, but your relationship to this human is?"

As the other vampire showed up again, Arthur turned. What sort of question was that, anyway? Such a nosy vampire... "We're... friends, I guess." Was the British vampire's rather awkward reply, a slight redness appearing on his face. He was extremely glad it was so hard to see in the darkness of the tunnel they were walking through.

"Friends?" Francis said with a chuckle. "Interesting... I hope you understand that our food supply is short, Arthur... Raj... right? I need to ask you if you could handle becoming a feeder?"

Arthur smiled at the other. It was a relief, really. Being with a human reminded him that not all humans were... monsters. The vampire chuckled at this thought. And the pitiful humans often called _them_ that? Ha! At least the vampires had not driven all of the other species out of their homes. "Cowards," spat the Brit. "That's what they are. All of those bloody humans are nothing but a bunch of damn cowards."

At Francis's question, however, he tried to stay a bit more cheerful, smiling lightly as he said, "Yes, Raj. It may be a bit... much to ask of you, but it really will help our cause." He licked his own lips a bit. It had been awhile since any vampires he had spoken to had really had any sort of good food. Blood packets could be compared to eating spam instead of steak.

Raj was silent for a while longer before looking between the two vampires. "I'll... I'll do it." He nodded, the idea settling in his mind. He was worried that they might drain him, but at the same time saw that this could be an opportunity to help the cause in a major way.

After a while, they reached a fork in the path where the tunnel on the right got wider. Francis paused, "We'll wait for our ride here." And sure enough, not long afterward a truck arrived, driving them down the tunnel. The vampires in the truck were silent, but Francis said, "You might as well rest... we'll be driving the rest of the night."

Raj glanced at Arthur from his seat in the back, wondering if it was okay to sleep like this.

Noticing the other looking slightly... out of place, really, Arthur smiled kindly. "Go ahead and rest, Raj. You need sleep. You've done a lot for us already, and will hopefully be doing even more in the near future. The least we can do is provide a safe place for you to rest." He sighed. Safe? Yeah, right. Nowhere was safe when you were a vampire on the run, and. things were even less safe when you were a human _assisting_ a vampire on the run.

Arthur yawned slightly, now rather tired as well. Vampires did not need as much sleep as humans, but they did need to recover from particularly long days. And if today did not count as a long day, then nothing did. He closed his eyes and leaned against the walls of the truck. It was not at all a comfortable place to sleep in, but it was better than nothing.

Raj nodded, feeling more at ease, even if it was the illusion of being at ease, when Arthur told him to sleep. The human curled up in his seat, drawing his knees to his chest and closing his eyes. A few minutes later he fell into a light sleep. When the pair woke up, they were inside of a building's garage, Francis shaking them awake.

"Morning, mon amis, not to rush you, but the boss wants to talk to you right away. To make sure you're safe and what not." The French vampire said, motioning them to get out of the truck.

Arthur stretched slightly, back aching from the uncomfortable position he had slept in. Muttering a few words under his breath, he got up and out of the truck, waiting for Raj to do the same. He then turned to Francis. "Lead the way then." Not only did he need to confirm their safety, but he also wanted very badly to ask a few questions.

The stronghold was divided into various sections: private quarters (where the refugees slept), an archive (where records and other documents were kept) and storage, feeding rooms beside a cafeteria, a training facility, and the offices. All of the walls were a pale gray color and the lights were rather bright to substitute the lack of a sun. Small groups of people meandered about the different sections but everyone moved with a subdued air. This was obviously a group that was deeply unhappy with the retreat.

Francis led them down the hallway to the very back room, one of the offices. Inside it was bare, save for a couple of chairs, a desk, and a man leaning against the far wall. The man was a vampire dressed in a loose pale purple shirt and sturdy black pants and shoes. One of the sleeves was ripped; obviously, he had not arrived at the strong hold long before they did, as there was a bit of blood on his clothes as well, though it was dried. Roderich was the head of the West vampire resistance and one of the oldest around, partially the reason he was elected as their preator.

"Welcome, gentlemen. My name is Roderich, and I have been named the head of the resistance, granted, I am sure you know that." He said, voice measured and careful, eyes watching them from behind a pair of glasses. "I'm sure you're weary from your trip; however, I have a few questions to ask... firstly, Francis, you sealed the exit?"

The French vampire nodded, "_Oui_, the tunnel should have collapsed half an hour ago. I sent Alfred to check on it."

Roderich looked back at Arthur and Raj, who had taken seats on the chairs, obviously meant for them. For the next hour Roderich asked them question after question: where had they first met, how did they find the safe house, how did they get communication to Francis, and were they sure no one had followed them? And lastly, the Austrian vampire looked between the two of them. "Arthur, how do you know that Raj is going to remain loyal to us?"

Arthur blinked, mildly surprised at this question but not at all unsure of how to answer. Honestly, he had trusted the man from the beginning. There was something about Raj that made him know only seconds after laying eyes upon him that he would not waver or switch sides. He was loyal to _them_. "He's truly proven himself to be a loyal... follower of us vampires. I know it sounds a bit silly, seeing as he's a human, but it's true. He has helped me get out of... sticky situations in the past, and he has recently offered to become a feeder for us. I know that, for many of us, trusting any human is difficult, but you have to believe me. Raj is on our side." He looked over at his Indian friend with a rare, truly kind smile.

It was a huge relief, really, to be in a place with other vampires again. For the first time in forever he felt at least a small sense of not only hope, but security. Arthur sighed as he glanced from his human friend up to Roderich. Things were definitely beginning to get better for them. At least, that's what he hoped was the case. That was what he would tell himself until proven wrong - Things were getting better.

The kind smile eased Raj's tension even more, and he looked back at Roderich who was still addressing Arthur. In fact, none of the questions had been directly asked to Raj. "Do you have any questions? If not, then we'll let you all get some rest after Raj has a blood exam."

Arthur paused, thinking for a moment, before looking up the leader of the vampires. "What... what can I do to help?" He asked. "I... I just feel so useless, constantly running away like this. I want to find a way to actually help my species." At this point, even Raj had done much more for their cause than he had, and he hated it. While he cared quite a bit for the man, he did not want it to seem as if he was trying harder to save the vampires more than the vampire himself.

His eager attitude was not missed by Raj or the West Resistance preator. However, their reactions were different. Internally, the human wished that his friend wasn't so eager to fight again. Though they were close Raj found himself hoping that something could change the other so that he no longer saw humans as horribly creatures worthy of extermination.

Roderich thought this over for a few minutes, eyes looking at Arthur carefully, sizing him up. "Currently, we are trying to save as many vampires as possible and get them into the strong hold from different safe houses. If you would like, I could add you to one of our teams to seek out safe houses and bring back who you can. Or... if you feel more able bodied, we are in need of spies. We need to see how the humans are progressing now that we have withdrawn."

"What about me?" Raj asked from his chair, "I would like to help, too."

The vampire leader turned to look at him. "Unfortunately, loyal though you may be... many of our kind would not react well to any human taking a prominent role in the resistance. For now, we must try to band as tightly together as possible. We need all the humans that can be persuaded to provide blood. That will be taxing enough on you without sending you into the field."

It seemed unfair, but in such an environment, Raj didn't dare complain. Instead, he meekly nodded.

Thinking, Arthur wondered exactly what would be best for him. He wanted so very badly to do something for the other vampires, something that would actually help. However, he also did not want to leave Raj behind, which Roderich seemed to be implying would be necessary. The human had done so much for him, he hated the idea of just using him as a food source from here on out.

Emerald eyes darting over to Roderich, and he asked, "I'd like to take a moment to think through the possibilities." He then turned to the Indian man, asking, "Do you think I could talk to you alone for a moment?" The more he thought about it, the more intriguing the idea of going out and taking action seemed to be. Just the idea of being a spy or a prominent member of a rescue team sounded exhilarating. Still, the thought of Raj being stuck behind was not a pleasant one. Yes, he would need to talk this over with the human himself.

"Go ahead." Roderich said, nodding to Francis and they left the room.

Raj turned in his chair to look at Arthur. "What is it?" He knew that Arthur would want to be in the thick of the action and despite his own misgivings; he wasn't going to try and get in the way.

Arthur looked at the ground for a moment, silently figuring out what to say. Finally, he started with, "L- look, lad, I don't want you to be left out of everything. After all, we sort of got into this together and I probably would not be alive right now if it weren't for you." He smiled kindly. "But at the same time, I really need to do something." His eyes narrowed and his tone suddenly became almost a hiss. "I feel like I've been losing my mind, hiding like a coward these past few days. I don't think I can make it much longer if I do nothing but sit around and watch others work to save my species."

"I need to do something! I need to at least feel like I'm doing something for the good of my kind. I know you may not know the feeling, seeing as you're sort of doing the opposite and fighting against your species, but..." He groaned with annoyance and confusion, not even sure where he was going with this anymore. "I just don't know what to do. Err... what would you do, in my situation?"

Tilting his head, Raj thought it over. "To be honest... I would do the same thing you are, trying to help out in any way I can." He managed to smile at the other, "Don't worry. I'll still be here when you get back." In a lower tone he added, attempting to make light of the situation, "They have to keep me alive at least for food right?"

Arthur's eyes narrowed, glancing in the direction Roderich had been in. "They better treat you just as well as us vampires. You deserve it. You've probably done - and are continuing to do, might I add - much more than many of them have." He rolled his eyes. However, his expression turned into a small smile as he muttered, "So you really wouldn't mind, then? Letting me go off and doing... something to help the others?"

This statement made him think of Leon. He had lost contact with him not long ago and had not heard anything of him since. He wondered briefly if he had been caught and killed... no that could not be the case. It was just too awful a thought to be true. He shook his head, trying to snap his thoughts back to reality and the matter at hand.

Raj shook his head, "I don't mind at all." The door opened again, after a couple of short knocks, and Roderich came in.

"If you don't mind... we'd like our answer now. There are a couple of vampires who need blood. Of course... if you'd like, we can make Raj be your main feeder Arthur?"

Surprised by this question, Arthur shrugged. "I guess so. Yes, I would like that." His stomach growled slightly at the thought of food. It had been quite a while, now that he thought about it, since he had actually felt like he had had enough food to be healthy. "But don't hurt him, of course. We don't want to take too much blood away."

Suddenly remembering the conversation that had just taken place, the British vampire exclaimed, "And I would like to help! I don't care where I'm placed, a rescuer or a spy or whatever you need. But I'll do anything to help my kind." He smiled at Roderich. "Where am I needed most?"

Roderich thought it over for a moment, "We need spies to check out a human base a few miles from here. Rumors have been going around that they've managed to capture a few vampires and are holding them ransom. We'll need help there."

Looking over at the human, he added, "Of course, we'll take good care of Raj for you. The team will leave tomorrow morning, so if you need to eat now, you can. And I'll have Francis show you two to your rooms and have some human food brought for Raj."

Arthur smiled, nodding. "Good, good. I'd love to join in on the mission!" It had been awhile since he had done anything active other than fleeing; being able to actually do something against the humans would feel wonderful. He turned to Raj, smiling at him. The two of them then followed Francis down the hallway that he assumed would lead them to their rooms. As they walked, Arthur asked Raj, "And you really are okay with this? Me going off as a spy, I mean." He looked down, uncertain of himself yet again. He never had been too good at being certain about things, really. All his life, he would make a decision and then later change his mind for no real reason other than uncertainty. "If... if you'd rather I stayed behind...?"

Raj was quiet they reached a pair of doors beside one another. Sighing, the man ran his fingers through his dark hair before managing to look at the vampire. "I feel... selfish... that way..." He smiled a little, though this one was more forced. "I wouldn't ask you to hide in a hole underground with me... You should do all you can to help."

Smiling, Arthur knew he looked much happier than he felt. He really was unsure of all of this. However, hearing Raj speak like this, honestly telling him that it was okay... well; it made him feel at least a little better. "Thank you, Raj." He turned to Francis. "So, what should we do now, then? Just... wait?" He really was starving by now; it had been so long since he had last had anything to eat.

"Oui." Francis said, "I'll have some food brought around for Raj and we'll head out in the morning. You should rest for now, sleeping in the truck couldn't have been comfortable..." The French vampire left them and Raj turned to look at Arthur.

"You... you haven't eaten in a while..." He motioned for the other to come closer, "Err... since I'm supposed to be feeding you... go ahead."

Arthur's emerald orbs widened with surprise at this. "Oh! Um..." he had done this to so many others, a countless number of times. However, now being faced with a close friend of his, it felt... different. "Ah, I... are you really comfortable with this? Or would you prefer... uh..." he really was not sure anymore, about all of this. Ugh, why was he such an idiot sometimes?

When his stomach growled with hunger, Arthur realized that he really was rather close to starving. Moving forward, he came close enough that he could practically smell the other's blood. "You're... you're sure this is all right, then?" The vampire tried to be a gentleman, even in times such as these.

Swallowing hard once, Raj nodded. It must be hard for him to keep asking and to have such manners even though the human was sure his vampire companion was starving. "Yes... go ahead, Arthur." It was a little embarrassing for him, but Raj was not going to say no to Arthur. He was fine with it, after all.

Arthur smiled slightly, fangs barred. Leaning in a bit closer still and trying very hard to be cautious, not wanting to hurt the man more than he absolutely had to, he gently placed his teeth against the other's neck, sinking them down until he could taste blood. For the first time in as long as he could remember, he felt alive again, beginning to suck slowly…

Location: Upper Town of La Havre, France

Human Base

Meanwhile, in another part of the city, a small band of humans climbed out of a truck. They were towing a human sized bundle that wriggled and writhed with every step. Once inside the base, they pulled open the bag, revealing the vampire trapped within. He was young with dark hair and pale gold toned eyes; his name was Leon Kirkland.

Leon hissed as he struggled against the arms holding him. However, three days of not eating had left him feeling week. The humans dragged him into a room, and he was thrown to the floor of it. The vampire hissed, glaring up at them.

One of the humans in the darkened room chuckled. These were the creatures the other humans had been fighting with for so long now? They were so... pathetic, really. At least, that's how it looked to Wang Yao, the man who had managed to capture the vampire who lay before him. He looked to be in his early thirties or late twenties with long brown hair, pulled over one shoulder in a ponytail. "You know, you look rather silly, hissing at me like that, aru." Yao mumbled, staring down at the other.

Leon frowned, struggling as one of the humans tied him up. It was just simple rope, if he could just get a little bit of blood, then it would be easy to snap them and make a run for it. One of the humans turned to Yao.

"What should we do with him sir? The bosses would like us to take care of him as quickly as possible and go after the group spotted at the edge of the city."

Leon hissed even louder, struggling as another of the soldiers put a stake over his heart. "Let's just get rid of him now."

Frowning, Yao thought for a moment, glancing from the stake to the vampire's face. After a moment of hesitation, he shook his head. "No, aru. Keep him alive for now. I think... I think he could help us." He knelt down so that he was face to face with Leon, his human eyes piercing the others. "It's not easy, you know, to catch a vampire in a state as weak as this one is in." But then again, with the times like this, that was quickly changing. "Who knows what will happen if we keep him here."

Yao smirked. "Would you like that, vampire? To be able to stay alive for a bit longer in exchange for helping me?" For a moment he considered reaching out and touching the other, but decided against it. He did not want to get attacked, after all. Even if the other did look rather helpless, Yao knew that they could be very dangerous.

For a long time, Leon stared at Yao weighing the options in his mind. Survival... that could mean he could escape at some point. And as such... "I'll help you…" Leon's voice was soft, tone serious. His gold toned eyes, just a few shades darker than the human in front of him, flashed with anger before calming again. "I'll help you," the vampire repeated, a little louder. "So feed me."

The smirk widening on Yao's lips, he could not help but chuckle at the other. Yes, he was right. Extremely pathetic. These creatures were nothing more than animals, doing anything another wants as long as they can keep their life. "Good." He turned to one of the men working with him. "Go get him something to eat, aru." He commanded.

One of the soldiers dragged Leon to a corner of the room and got a blood bag for him, which the vampire greedily drank down. Licking his lips, the short haired vampire asked Yao, "What... what do you want to know?"

After answering the questions, he was taken off to a cell and locked up for the rest of the night. While it gave him plenty of time to think, it also presented a new problem. He'd been here for so long and with the other vampires retreating... even if he got out... where would he go?

Chuckling, Yao walked down the hallway back to his own room. That idiot of a vampire was locked up for the night, so he had nothing to worry about. At least, not for now. In the morning he would have to deal with him. He would need all sorts of help with this. His goal, really, was to get rid of any vampire that refused to leave like he had commanded. Those who disobeyed would have to face the consequences- in this case, a stake to the heart.

Yao got to his bedroom and sat down on the bed before him. He had no guilt, no regrets. The vampires were not even human in his mind; they were just pathetic animals that had gone a bit too far. With these thoughts, the rather tired human lay down, eyes closing.

Leon was awoken the next day by another soldier who led him to the same room he was held in yesterday. He was placed in a chair and chained to it; after all, he had been fed. There was no need to take chances.

The Asian vampire looked at Yao as he walked into the room, frown firmly in place on his lips. "Well... are you going to ask me anything today?"

Greatly amused by the other, Yao responded in a tone one would use on a child or a misbehaving dog. "Yes, I think I will ask a few more questions, aru. Some very important ones, as a matter of fact." He paced around the other, eyeing him up and down, studying him. Strangely enough, the vampire reminded him a bit of himself. Appearance-wise, anyway. This thought, however, sickened him a bit. Why in the world was he comparing himself to one of... one of those creatures?! He shook his head in disgust.

Finally stopping and turning back towards Leon, Yao asked, "Where are the others hiding? I have been confirmed that other vampires are still nearby. Where are they?! I know you know!" His eyes narrowed.

Leon growled at Yao, "Don't talk to me like that, human!" He hissed, fangs flashing in the dim light. "And for your information... I don't know anything about that. I was left behind!" He returned the glare that the human was giving him; it was startling... how this human looked like him a bit.

Yao folded his arms, amusement turning to annoyance. However, his tone did not change. He patted the other on the head, making sure to be cautious as he did so. "Now, now, vampire. I understand that you enjoy looking big and powerful, but this is simply not the right occasion for such... ferocity." He chuckled.

"And do not lie to me, aru. Even if your story is true, even if you really were 'left behind', you must have some sort of clue as to what happened to them." There was no way Leon could be telling the truth. He had to just be making it all up to protect his species, right? Yao rolled his eyes. Idiot, thinking his species was worth protecting like that.

Oh, how he wanted to get up off of this chair and knock some sense into the human in front of him. And maybe knock out a couple of walls with his corpse in the process. Dammit... no matter his insistence, Yao refused to believe that he had no idea where the other vampires had gone. Huffing, the small vampire glowered before saying, "I know some rumors, but there is nothing... concrete."

Leon looked at the soldiers surrounding them. "But I want them to leave." He nodded at the group, "If I have to tell someone... I'd prefer it be the man in charge... and that man _only_."

Yao thought over this request. The man in charge? Well, that would work for now. Besides, if the answers Leon gave were correct, all of the other soldiers would hear about it anyway. "Very well, aru," he decided with a nod. He turned to the men working for and with him. "Please exit for the moment. I need to talk to this... _thing_ alone for a bit." Before they left, however, he added, "But keep a close watch on the room. If our friend here does anything drastic, I want to have backup immediately."

Once the soldiers did as they were told and left the room, Yao turned on Leon again. "No, where are they?"

Leon was silent for a few moments longer before speaking again. "There were rumors of a stronghold underground. I don't know where it is, but they have human connections that are letting them in and providing blood."

Smiling with triumph, Yao replied, "Oh is that true? An underground stronghold?" Mind racing, he thought through the other's words. Human connections? There were still humans dumb enough to want to help these creatures? The thought made his expression turn into a slight frown.

"Now, another question," the man suddenly said, expression still a bitter frown. "Why aren't you with the others, anyway? Why were you left behind?" He leaned in towards Leon a bit as he interrogated him, making sure to keep enough distance that there was no chance of being injured.

Leon could almost see the blood moving through Yao's veins and he wondered if the other had been made inedible? The packaged blood had kept him from starving, but nothing was as filling as drinking from a live human. Leon wished the other wouldn't lean in like that, but he wasn't about to back down.

At the question of his own abandonment, a faint flush came on to the small vampire's cheeks. "The hierarchy in our species is very... important... those who were too young or those without their Sires to vouch for them were left behind." He explained and the latter scenario was true for himself. Arthur had vanished a week before he was captured along with one of their human allies.

Yao thought for another long moment, wondering how true the other's words were. He did not trust this monster at all, he knew that. Still, what Leon was saying did sound extremely believable. He nodded tersely and pulled away. "So either the rest of your species decided that because of your age you weren't worth saving, or your Sire didn't care enough about you to make sure you made it out alive." He scoffed. "You vampires are such primitive creatures."

Glaring, Leon hissed, "My Sire does care about me!" He shifted in his chair, the chains holding him to it clinking together. "If anything you all are the primitive creatures." He muttered, fangs protruding a bit. "You have to keep me tied up. Can't take me on your own?"

Eyes widening at this challenge (and in mild fear as he stared at the sharpened fangs of his captive), Yao took a step backwards. "We... we feel as if it's only safer. You're monsters, after all. My reason to keep you locked up here is not weakness, its sanity. No sane man would ever go near one of you freaks without knowing you were unable to attack, aru."

The slight step made him feel a bit better. Leon actually smirked. "Isn't that the definition of cowardice?" He sighed, "But since I am trapped here... haven't I told you good information?" Leon watched Yao carefully, "I need more blood..."

Folding his arms, Yao stayed silent for a moment, studying the vampire in front of him, frowning at his comment. He was not a coward, and he knew it. He simply would not allow himself to get torn to pieces by the freak before him. "Fine," he snapped. "But you seem pretty strong, aru. You don't need much. And we definitely don't want you strong enough to escape, do we now?" He smirked slightly, walking over to the door and opening it, coming face to face with one of his owns guard.

"Ah, good. Get him some form of sustenance, will you?" He could not at all bring himself to say "get him some blood". The very thought made him sick. What sort of creature survived on the blood of another, anyway?

The guard got another bag of blood for Leon, though this one was much smaller. Leon fed off of it, sighing when the bag was empty. It didn't seem to be enough, being such a young vampire he ran through blood much quicker rate. The guard left them alone and for a few moments silence fell between the pair of them. Glancing over at Yao he asked, "Are you done with me?"

Yao thought for a moment. Really, he was done with him (for the day, anyway). But still, he had nothing better to do with his time than to talk to this creature a bit more. And he was still extremely upset by the other's comment on cowardice earlier. He smirked. "How would you describe your species, anyway?" he asked. "Surely you don't think of yourself as... superior, aru."

Looking up at Yao, Leon muttered, "No... I don't..." He waited until the guard had closed the door again before adding, "... Your name is Yao right?" Watching golden eyes so close a color to his own, he murmured, "I remember what it was like... to be human."

Yao was honestly taking aback by this statement, his own eyes widening quite a bit. "I... how?" He had heard the stories of course. Apparently if you were bitten by a vampire, you would become one. However, the idea of it actually happening to someone, and that "someone" being the creature in the room with him, shocked him. And terrified him, really. The idea of being turned into one of these monsters was a truly dreadful idea.

Not wanting to disclose exactly how vampires are made, for it is a long process, a mixing of bloods back and forth before a person can complete the transformation along with other unpleasant actions. Or else all feeders would become vampires... Leon looked up at Yao with a serious expression, a small voice in the back of his mind was screaming at him to hold his tongue. Talking like this was too personal. But, he did so anyway. Perhaps, he needed someone to know and Yao was offering. "I was attacked, but one of them decided to have me turned instead of killed."

That was Arthur and, while he was grateful, happy even, to the other vampire for saving him... at times he hated him just as much as the others, maybe even more. Because, Arthur hadn't just let him die, he'd made him into another creature...

"Then maybe we can relate to each other a bit," Yao muttered, hating himself even as he spoke. He sat down in front of the other, on the ground. Looking at his own feet rather than making eye contact with Leon, he asked, "So how do you really feel about your species, then?" After all, he had not exactly answered him directly before.

Although he was not exactly happy about it, the Chinese man found himself warming up to this _thing_ a bit more. Still, he did not at all think of him as equal, let alone anything more than an animal. It was something equivalent - at least in Yao's mind - to growing attached to a dog found on the streets.

Leon sighed, looking down at the human seated on the floor before him. What was it about this human? How could he possibly feel comfortable talking to him about this? "My opinion on vampires... is complicated..." Leon murmured at last.

"Complicated?" Yao repeated, eyebrow raised. It was such an alien thought to him, really. He was so used to just... hating them. Hating everything about them, their lifestyle, their almost-human appearance, and the way they acted. Hearing this... thing that actually belonged to the species he was thinking of express his uncertainty was quite... interesting, to say the least.

The vampire nodded, "Yes... since I can still remember what it was like to be human, some things about being a vampire still seem strange to me." Leon sighed, "Does that explain things a bit more for you?"

Blinking, Yao nodded. "Yes, I guess so, aru." He looked up, staring at his captive in a much different manner than before. For the first time, he was actually curious. Some of his rather cold-blooded hatred for the species had turned into... confusion, really. He wanted to know more. Wanted to know a bit about how these creatures lived. This revelation scared him a bit. He could practically feel his personality being twisted and changed by this vampire.

Standing up, he sighed. "Well, I guess we're done talking for the day."

Leon nodded and shifted in his chair, feeling the chains, "So... how long are we going to continue this?" He was curious more than anything, "Are you just going to keep asking me questions or are you going to kill me eventually, hmm?"

Thinking for a moment, Yao shrugged. He was not really sure himself, at this point. Honestly, the idea of killing Leon now was... rather grim. He frowned. "Your name is Leon, right?" he asked, before continuing, "I... think we'll wait and see. At the moment your help is still greatly needed, so you are safe for now, aru." He felt his lips involuntarily twitch into a half-smile for a moment, before quickly returning to a frown. No way was he going to smile at him. He was still a monster, after all.

Yao then let the guards back in and told them of what he had been informed, of the vampire's underground hideaway. "We'll need to send a group out to look for them. No vampires will be left in the area once I'm done, aru."

Leon gave Yao a blank stare; however, inside he was much more confused. Had Yao just smiled at him? Before he could think on it any longer, he was taken back to his cell by the guards.

Standing in place for a moment, Yao sighed, confused by his own actions. His emotion turning into anger, more at himself than the creature he had just been speaking to, he turned and left the room. It was not exactly late in the day yet, and there were plenty of things to still be done. He focused his mind back to the idea of an underground hiding place for the vampires.

Turning to a nearby guard, the Chinese man asked, "When do you think the best time to send out a search party will be? I don't want the vampires staying hidden away for too much longer, aru." Especially if it meant actually growing attached to Leon...

~End of Chapter One~


	3. Chapter 2

**(Author's Note: This is the second chapter of Dusk to Dawn and Back Again. Thank you so much to all who read the first chapter, or for those of you just joining us, thanks for starting~! Sorry for the long gap between chapters, I have not had much internet access or contact with Fangirly and our Betas because of it. Hopefully we'll have chapter 3 out before Halloween~! )**

Turning to a nearby guard, the Chinese man asked, "When do you think the best time to send out a search party will be? I don't want the vampires staying hidden away for too much longer, aru." Especially if it meant actually growing attached to Leon...

The guard in question was an intense looking man with his blond hair slicked back. Regarding the shorter, but higher in command, male, the German soldier answered, "We can send out a party by morning, sir."

"Very good!" Yao smiled. "I think that... I should probably talk to Leon again first, aru. He probably knows more about where vampires would go into hiding." He rolled his eyes. They were such simple minded creatures; it would not be that hard to find their hideaway, he was certain of it. The only thing they had going for them was longevity and fanged savagery.

"Yes sir." The blond said, saluting before moving along down the hallway to give out orders. However, he paused at the corner... had the Commander just called the creature by a name? Shaking his head, he carried on down the corridor.

When morning came, Leon was once again chained to the chair, though without any blood. He looked up at Yao with a steady, rather blank expression. "What do you need this time?"

For some reason, there was absolutely no awkwardness at all between Yao and Leon this time, at least not from the human's point of view. His tone was rather embarrassingly casual as he asked, "I know you said you don't know where the others are, but surely you can give us some sort of... estimation? You are a vampire after all, where do you think the best place for them to have hidden would be?"

Leon sighed, "I can guess, but for a quick evacuation, most of the points can't be too far outside of the city and most likely underground. We have better senses and can navigate darker settings easily." He paused there, biting his lip. What was he doing? Even though he began to panic internally at all of the information spilling out of him, the young vampire kept his expression as blank and careless as he dared.

Smiling, Yao nodded. "Thanks, I'll tell them to stay near the outskirts, then. That should make our search a little bit easier." He suddenly paused. Why was he smiling? Face going rather pale, the Chinese man forced his expression back into a stern frown.

Taking note of Yao's paling complexion, Leon tilted his head, looking the other over with a new look on his face, similar to confusion. "Is... are you all right?"

Nodding, the other replied with a slight stutter, "O- oh, yes, a- aru. Fine." He felt himself almost smile again, before stopping himself, biting down on his lower lip so hard that he was certain he could taste a bit of blood. No, this was all wrong. He simply could not start feeling casual around this creature. They were nothing more than animals! Despicable animals that had to be put down! Yes, that was right. He let out a soft, "Humph," eyes narrowing.

"Well, thank you, vampire." He snapped, trying once again to regain something close to sounding professional. "I will send out troops right away to go kill off that idiot of a species you belong to." Ugh, why was it suddenly so hard to get those words out?

Leon's confused expression became one of annoyance and slight anger. The self-focused anger at being forced to comply that had been bubbling inside of him found a new target. "You're welcome... human." He hissed; gold-brown toned eyes hard. For some reason he was disappointed that the other was sounding so… forced? Perhaps that was the right word for it. It irritated him. "Just leave me be."

He didn't want anything more to do with the man in front of him. Though the interrogation had been very short he was already feeling drained and anxious. Because everything that he had told Yao was true, if the strongholds existed they would be in the locations he described. A knot twisted in his gut as Arthur's face flashed in his mind's eye. Surprisingly, the human Commander complied with his request.

"Well, I guess we're done here for now," replied Yao tersely, looking away from the vampire. He made a soft clicking noise with his tongue before walking over to the door, finding guards waiting on the other side. Of course they were - no one would ever be dumb enough to be in a room alone with a vampire unless they had backup waiting right outside.

Turning to the nearest guard, who was posted just outside the door, he snapped, tone rather harsh, "Take it back to the dungeon, I'm done. And I'd like to talk to Ludwig about the expedition to hunt out the vampires, aru. Bring him to me, will you?"

Leon was dragged back to his cell as Ludwig came around the corner. He stopped in front of Yao, saluting him. "You wished to see me, sir?"

Yao, feeling more comfortable around a creature of his own species, smiled at the man. "Yes, our captive gave us a bit more information on where the others may be hiding. He himself does not know for sure, seeing as he was separated from his Sire, but he believes that they will be hiding near the outskirts to be able to escape quickly. I suggest you send some men out to investigate the outer areas of the city immediately, aru."

Ludwig nodded, "Yes, sir." He motioned for a couple other soldiers to follow him before departing. In his cell, Leon was pacing. Had he done the right thing? He was still alive... but at the same time... what was going to happen to the others?

Yao sighed as he walked back to his room. It was not too late into the day yet at all, but he honestly did not have much more to do. Getting to his bedroom, he lay down, curling up and thinking. Leon was not that bad. Not that bad at all, really. In fact, talking to him was easier than talking to most humans he knew. And his species, maybe vampires were in fact…

Shaking his head desperately, Yao let out an audible, "no" at the thought. No, they were monsters. Vampires were blood-thirsty, demonic creatures that deserved to be taken down!

Growling to himself, Yao sat up. Why was all of this so confusing all of a sudden? He had half the mind to just go kill that damn vampire that was confusing him so much. Then at least he would be able to stop thinking this way. However, the idea of ending Leon's life... did not seem like something he could bring himself to do, much to his annoyance. Tossing and turning upon the mattress, the human did his best to make his mind blank, all to no avail.

That was it. There was only one way to stop thinking about that stupid creature, and it was to go see him. Alone. Yao got up and stomped out of the room, walking down to where prisoners were kept. The cells were currently empty except for the one in the far back - the one Leon was being kept in.

Leon looked up as Yao came into his cell. He was curled up in the corner, feeling rather weak and tired. Since he hadn't given any true new information there wasn't much blood being given to him. "... Yao? What do you want?"

Blinking, Yao thought over this question as he continued walking forward until he was facing the vampire. He realized that this was the first time he had ever spoken to him without him tied up. "N- Nothing, really." He found himself answering honestly. Ugh, why had he even come in here again?

Leon looked at Yao for a moment longer before shrugging and moving to lean against the wall as he sat. "You just... decided to come and talk to me?" He asked, raising a brow. That was confusing to say the least. But, interesting all the same. The more he thought about it... Yao hadn't done anything overly cruel to him during his imprisonment. In fact, he'd given the orders to have him fed.

"I... guess so." Yao sighed, looking away. Ugh, he felt like such an idiot, standing there like this. What was he even thinking, going to visit a locked up vampire like this? Well, it was not as if the other was really that bad. In fact, as far as he could remember, the other really had not even tried that hard to escape or even threaten him. Strange, really. Yao had always pictures vampires to be such savage creatures.

Leon couldn't help but chuckle at that. "Really? Mmm..." He looked over the human, eyes thoughtful. "You're strange." Shouldn't all humans hate him? Fear him? Yao had only been a little afraid of him, but all and all, he was comfortable with him. Maybe too comfortable with him?

Yao felt his face flush a bit with these words. "I- I'm not strange, aru." he stammered out, eyes narrowing just a bit. "You're strange," Oh that came out too childish. "I mean, you... you are a vampire. You live off of blood! That's... that's stranger than me." It was weird, how he was not having some sort of angry or heated debate, but just kind of arguing. It felt rather unnatural.

"Very well, you are not strange, you are different. How many humans do you know that would willingly talk to a vampire? Even one that was in a cell and had not eaten in twenty-four hours?" Leon asked, tilting his head, not rising to the anger in the others voice. Not this time at least.

"I... fine, then. I just wanted to talk to you a bit, excuse me for being curious, aru." There was a small amount of anger rising in Yao's voice, but he was not really mad. Leon was right, after all. Only someone insane would actually want to talk to a vampire like this, actually take the time to go visit them.

Leon's jaw nearly dropped. Yao really did just want to talk? Quick to recover, he arranged his expression into a blank one and replied, "It's not a bad thing, I suppose... Though, curiosity killed the cat."

Yao shivered slightly at the other's words. Perhaps taking them a bit too seriously, he thought it through for a moment. Was that true, was he being a cat that's curiosity would lead to its downfall? He sighed and sat down across from the cell, staring at Leon. "Well, I'll try not to be too curious then, aru."

The vampire gave his human captor a small smile, he had a feeling that Yao was taking him too seriously. Honestly, the man was so high-strung, "It is just an expression Mr. Wang... but there could be merits to not being too curious. I am _your_ prisoner, after all, aren't I?"

Yao blinked with surprise at the other's smile. "You can call me Yao." he muttered. "Mr. Wang" sounded so formal that it made him feel rather awkward (or at least, more awkward than he already did). It was also different than 'Commander' which was more powerful. "And, I suppose you're right, aru. About curiosity, I mean. So... err... tell me more about your feelings about being turned into... one of them." The idea - of once being human, then transformed into one of those creatures - still frightened him quite a bit.

Leaning back against the wall some more, Leon frowned in thought, "It's... complicated." Hadn't they had a similar conversation before? And, should he really be explaining to the other? Oh well, talking had to be better than sitting down here by his lonesome. Before the other could protest that explanation, he carried on, "My feelings change from day to day almost." Leon paused here, again confused, shocked and angry for confiding in this human out of anyone. "Sometimes I'm grateful... other times I hate them." He explained simply.

Slightly upset by how little an explanation that was, Yao frowned. "Okay," he murmured. "But how did you feel at first? The day you became a vampire, aru. Were you disgusted? Horrified?" Those were the only two emotions he could imagine having after becoming a blood thirsty monster.

Leon shook his head and almost laughed, the words came so easily. Perhaps, he wanted, no, needed, to tell someone how he was feeling. Arthur? He could never understand; he was so old that he had problems understanding human mentality at times. It was a mystery as to why the Singh family had stuck around for as many generations as they did, with the British vampire's attitude.

"_And if you could keep living… no matter what, would you do it?" The man's voice was so soft that Leon almost missed his words. But, he seized the opportunity._

"_Yes."_

"The opposite actually... I was so desperate to keep living... it drowned everything else out. Having to watch people around you be drained and killed, it horrified me. All I wanted to do was keep living; I didn't want to die that way. What I didn't know was that in some ways I did die that day, my way of life died that day. When I start to think like that, about how different I really am… Thoughts like that horrify me." He said, turning to look at Yao.

"Are you thinking of becoming a vampire? I'd admit that is rather unexpected." Leon said softly, raising a brow as he watched the others reaction.

Shaking his head rather desperately, he replied, "N- No, not at all! The exact opposite, really. I never want to become one. It... It doesn't sound very appealing to me, aru." He paused, thinking over the other's words. His way of life died? That made no sense. Well, to him, anyway. He could not relate to the idea, of living forever like that. The thought made him shiver again.

Another question that had been bothering him a bit, suddenly forced its way out of Yao's mouth as he asked, "Wh- what does blood taste like? To your species, I mean." Like every other human he knew, he had tasted it a bit before. In his opinion the stuff was disgusting, tasting metallic and thick and not at all edible.

Leon hadn't really expected Yao to understand. The life of a vampire was very different than the life of a human, different things mattered. For example, human food really had no taste to him anymore, in order to understand what something tasted like he would have to eat large amounts of it. And even then, there was almost no nutrition to be taken from it.

Blood on the other hand... "Well, it depends on the person. The more healthy the person the better their blood tastes. We can also tell if a person has a certain illness by the way their blood tastes. It's also best if blood is warm and from a living person, that packaged stuff tastes..." He fished for the right word to compare, "Processed I suppose you could say, probably from the plastic."

"Oh, well I suppose that can't be helped, aru." Yao replied. "And my blood's been made inedible anyway, so I couldn't let y-" He cut himself off, face burning bright red. **What** was he saying? Had he seriously just tried to offer the other his blood?

No. This was all wrong. Just the fact that he was sitting here talking to the other was wrong. He was a monster. A fanged beast that was not even human anymore. His hands turned into fists, nails scratching against his own palms.

The young vampire's eyes widened. Had Yao just... Had Yao almost offered him his blood? Leon blinked at the other, unable to really say anything in response just yet. _It doesn't matter,_ he told himself. There would be no point in it anyway, unless he wanted to get sick... Yao couldn't be fed from. No one on this base probably could. Still, the thought of blood had his stomach growling. That brought a flush to his own face, "Ahh..."

"A- are you hungry?" asked Yao, needing to change the subject. "Uh, I could go get something for you," he muttered, looking away from the other as he stood up. "I'll be right back, aru." Yes, he needed to get away from the other for a moment. He could not stand it, the fact that he was warming up to this creature so much. Walking away, he decided to go find the blood himself and not to ask a guard to get it for them. Then everyone he was working with would know he had been speaking to Leon outside of an interrogation. And he could not face resentment from the ranks, not when they could be facing the end of the war with vampires.

Drinking Raj's blood… Oh, there was an awkwardness about it that simply would not fade. Never before had he done this to someone he was so close to, drinking straight from the person, Feeder. And - while biting necks lovingly was thought to be an extremely human approach to life - it felt much more intimate than it ever had been. His eyes darted up to the other's face for a moment, still feeling insecure, and hating himself for it. The Singhs had been his feeders for a long time, but ever since he'd found himself growing closer and closer to the human it had been harder to accept the idea of feeding from him.

Raj barely flinched when Arthur bit him and at first he was just trying to stand still. Yet his arms felt awkward hanging by his sides and he wound up pressing them onto Arthur's shoulders, eyes closing as he felt blood leaving his body. What really surprised him was the fact that it didn't hurt badly.

Feeling the other rather awkwardly wrap his arms around his shoulders, Arthur's eyes opened yet again, looking upwards for a moment. It was with this motion that he remembered that he had to be careful. Too much blood loss was extremely dangerous for a human, and he hated the idea of leaving any damage. Although he was not at all close to full, he finally pulled away with a sigh, face flushed a bright pink.

"Uh..." he paused, not certain of what to say. "Th- thank you, Raj." He smiled weakly, licking whatever blood may still be on his lips. One thing was for certain, for the first time in what felt like ages he actually felt like he was not going to die.

Raj leaned against the wall, rubbing at his neck. "It's fine... do you feel much better now?" He asked, managing to smile at the other. "I feel okay actually; if you need more I could..." Raj stopped there, trailing off awkwardly. Was he really offering more blood to him?

Arthur shook his head, chuckling. "Oh no, I don't want to kill you, heh-heh." He gave Raj one of the first genuine smiles he had produced in quite some time. "But thank you again." He smiled, running his tongue over his front fangs. Suddenly - much to his embarrassment - he let out a long yawn. "I guess Francis was right, eh? We really did not get much rest, sleeping in the back of that truck like we did." He paused, looking down the hallway in the direction the vampire in question had gone in. "When do you think he'll be back, anyway? Didn't he say something about getting you food?"

"Speak of the devil." Raj murmured, trying to cover his own embarrassment, looking down at the other end of the hall. Francis was walking down it with a couple bottles of water and a container in hand. "I come bearing food and you call me a devil... how impolite." The French vampire chuckled, but his fangs showed a bit all the same.

Raj accepted the food and said good night to the vampires before heading into his own room. Francis glanced at Arthur, "Are you feeling better amiss?"

After saying goodnight to Raj, Arthur chuckled, nodding slightly as he turned to Francis. "Yes, much better." He replied with a smile. However, his expression suddenly turned serious. "Now, what exactly are we doing tomorrow, anyway? Roderich said something about a spy mission that I can take part of?" Yes, if the vampire was going to do this job that he had been assigned, he would have to know as much about it as possible.

Crossing his arms, Francis nodded at Arthur's request, "You and several others will be working for reconnaissance on the human base. That is, making sure that the rumors of captured vampires are just rumors and to seek out weak spots in the base. Once that is done, we'll send in a larger group to take it out. So, any and all information you gather will be important."

Arthur nodded in understanding. "Okay, I'll certainly do my best." It was the absolute truth, too. He wanted nothing more than to do something, even if it was not too much, to save his species. And this job sounded quite interesting, too. What if he found Leon? He bit his lower lip with worry at the thought. What if the rumors were not true, and all found vampires were killed? No, that could not happen. Besides, there were other vampires besides Leon that he cared about and did not want to see dead.

Sighing, the British vampire turned toward the door to his room. "Well, I guess I should be heading off to bed now. We've got a long day ahead of us, you know!" He smiled weakly and exited. Francis gave the other vampire a smile before leaving them for the night.

Raj was awake and in one of the main halls along with a couple other humans come morning. Spotting Arthur heading towards another small cluster of vampires, he walked over to the green-eyed man. "I thought it would be good to see you guys off."

The rest of Arthur's team was made up of Francis, another blond vampire with blue eyes and glasses who was talking excitedly with a short, Asian looking vampire who simply let the loud one ramble on and on.

Arthur smiled at Raj. "I hope you slept well," he said. "And thanks for coming to see me before we take off. Wish us luck!" He laughed softly. It was nice, to be able to casually talk to his friend a bit.

"I did sleep well... thanks." The human replied, nodding as he smiled a little bit when Arthur seemed comfortable talking to him.

Arthur then turned to Francis. "Do you mind introducing me to the rest of our team, then?" He did not actually recognize any of these vampires, although the blond one's face was rather familiar. And he did not want to feel too awkward around them; the idea of going on a secret mission with total strangers was already strange enough as it was.

"Of course." Francis said, gesturing to the other vampires. "This is Alfred and Kiku." The loud blond, and the rather quiet one, respectively.

Alfred waved at Arthur, "Yo."

Kiku just nodded.

Arthur waved back at the two new vampires. "It's a pleasure to meet both of you," he greeted them politely; truly hoping they would get along. At the moment he was rather uncertain of Francis, and he hoped Alfred and Kiku would be a bit... easier to handle. He turned to the French vampire in question. "Well, when do we take off, then?" he asked.

"We head out in a few minutes; I need to make sure that the new tunnels are clear so that we can head out." Francis said, "If all goes well we should be back in a couple of days."

A couple of days? That was... a surprisingly large amount of time, really. He felt even worse about leaving Raj behind when he thought about it. Ugh, hopefully whatever the other had to say was important. Being near him at the moment just made him feel guilty.

Raj looked over at Arthur, suddenly feeling awkward as he dug in his pockets. Where was it? Ah! He remembered to bring it from his room… He tapped Arthur on the shoulder. "A moment... if you have it...?" Raj asked quietly.

Turning to Raj, Arthur smiled, nodding. He had wanted to say some words to the other, as well. "Yes, of course." He led the human over so that they were farther away from the rest of the group. Smiling a bit broader as he watched the other's expression, he asked, "Well, what is it? I'm afraid we're going to have to be rather quick about this, apparently we're heading out soon."

Raj pulled something out of his pocket and offered it to Arthur, "I know this sounds silly but, this is called a taweez, it's considered it a good luck charm." The charm was a silver cylinder like trinket on a black string. "Think of it as a more... personal way of wishing you luck?"

Extremely touched by this gift, the vampire accepted it graciously. "Thank you very much, Raj," Arthur smiled. "I'm not sure I can convey to your how much this means to me." It was true. Having other vampires say things like "good luck" was one thing, but having a close friend give you something that meant good luck was definitely another.

Sighing, he suddenly asked, "I know I must sound like I'm repeating myself, but... are you certain that this is okay? I really don't want to leave you behind for days at a time like this."

Raj gently shook his head, "Perhaps I am being too attached? I'm sorry; I'm not telling you to stay. Of course I'm comfortable with you going. How could I ask you to stay here with me? It's not like they're going to eat me." He chuckled a little awkwardly, flushing.

Biting his lower lip softly, Arthur replied, "Oh, no, you have nothing to worry about here. The humans may beg to differ, but us vampires can be very civil creatures when we choose to be." He smiled once more. "And," Arthur sighed, "If you're really okay with it, I guess I should get going now. Thank you for the... ah... whatever you called it. The good luck charm." He chuckle slightly, putting the small item in his pocket.

"See you..." Raj said, following Arthur back to the other vampires and waving them off as Francis came back for them to head out.

Arthur walked up to Francis as the group began taking off. "So, what's the plan?" he asked rather cheerfully, heart already beating faster at the very thought of something exciting happening. He did not want to admit it, but... without Raj, he could act much more... like a vampire, really. Much more _free_.

"We're going to stake out the perimeter of the base, watch everyone's coming and goings for the day." Francis explained as they drove off, "Then tomorrow we'll work our way inside the building with the blue prints Kiku managed to steal."

"Just watching all day?" Alfred complained, sighing, "That sounds boring."

Arthur sighed. He seemed to be doing that a lot lately. The whole trip had not gotten many things done at all. While they had a few assumptions, nothing could at all be confirmed. In fact, the British vampire was even more lost now than he had been before the mission had begun. As they walked back down to the main area of the vampire's hideaway, he turned to Alfred, who he had talked to quite a bit. The boy was rather annoying, but had a good heart, he could tell. And, it turned out that they had met once, a century or so ago… Somewhere along the East coast of the United States. That was why the other looked familiar. "So, what should we say to the praetor, then?" he asked.

As he waited for an answer, Arthur's mind traveled back to Raj. How was he, he wondered? Hopefully things had not been too bad for him.

"We'll have to tell him that we couldn't find much... we'll have to find a more concrete way to sneak in at a later date." Kiku said quietly from his spot in the back of the truck. Francis nodded though he seemed irritated.

Arthur sighed. "I suppose so. Hope he isn't too disappointed." Oh, who was he kidding, everyone was going to be disappointed. They had relied on this small band of vampires to get crucial information... and they had failed them all drastically.

When they arrived back at the strong hold, Francis said he would talk to Roderich and that the rest could go find something to do until some decision on what to do next was made. The French vampire stalked off, muttering darkly to himself in his native tongue. Alfred waved and headed off to find his assigned human. Kiku gave Arthur a nod, murmuring, "It was a pleasure to work with you Arthur-san," before heading off himself.

Arthur smiled at Kiku, "Yes, pleasure working with you, as well," he called out before turning. He really did not know the place well at all yet, and there really was nowhere for him to be. He momentarily considered going to try to follow Francis, help him talk to Roderich and explain just how hard it really had been to get any information, but he quickly threw the idea aside. He would be nothing but a burden, trying to talk to the leader of the vampires.

Then his mind drifted back to Raj… again. Yes, that's where he would go. Besides, the other had always had a way of cheering him up a bit when he was especially down, like he was at the moment. Much to his embarrassment, his stomach growled at the thought. While away, none of them had really had anything to eat.

The human in question was currently sitting in one of the feeding rooms, awaiting his next assignment. He remembered that as soon as the spy party had left, he'd been called into Roderich's office for a blood extension.

_Raj sat in a chair, Roderich in front of him, needle in hand. "Wh- what is this for?" The human asked, feeling nervous._

_"We have to make sure that you will remain loyal to us... it's nothing very dangerous. After all, we need you to feed our group. And, it will help with your job as a feeder." The Austrian vampire explained, sliding the needle into his arm and pressing down on the plunger. Raj flinched, but didn't complain…_

His thoughts were broken by a soft sound. The human looked up as the door to the feeding room opened. There was another blond, bespectacled vampire coming into the room. "You're Matthew right?" He asked, knowing that he'd been assigned to Arthur and the other.

The other vampire nodded, blinking rather shyly. "Y- Yes, that's me." He smiled. "And you're... Raj?" He had been given his feeder's name before entering, but seeing as it was not one he was exactly familiar with, he struggled to remember it.

"Yes, I am." Raj said, rubbing the back of his neck. He hadn't been feeling well for the past hour or so, that was how he knew that he had to have someone feed off of him. What had he gotten himself into? On one hand... he could adequately feed Arthur now... without the other having to worry about killing him. On the other... No, he wasn't having second thoughts. This was better than watching an entire species be wiped out.

Smiling, Mathew walked forward a bit more. "I guess I should... uh, properly introduce myself? I'm Mathew - as you seem to already know - and I'm Alfred's... ah, brother. You may have briefly seen him before he went away on that spy mission? Well anyway, apparently you're my feeder." He paused. "A lot of the others have been talking about you. How you've defied your own species and such to help us vampires," He chuckled awkwardly. "It's rare we get volunteer feeders." Was there really such a thing as a human he could trust? The thought rather scared him. Most of the feeders here were Extended and had been feeding for a long time, they were loyal. Again, maybe not trustworthy, but loyal.

The man in front of him, though he came from an informed family, some of whom were feeders, did not grow up a feeder himself. Would he have the same level of loyalty?

Raj nodded and gave Matthew a smile, hoping to dispel the rather nervous energy coming from the other, "I did see him. And, nice to meet you, Matthew." Looking around, there was a table and some chairs... he looked back to the shy vampire, "Not to sound rude or awkward but, how would you like to do this? I'd like to get started if you don't mind."

Never being one to really take any form of assertiveness, the Canadian vampire looked around with wide eyes before asking, "Well, what do you want? I mean... I've heard from the others that lots of humans aren't particularly comfortable with their necks being bitten, and, uh..." He pauses, running his tongue over his front fangs.

"My neck is fine..." Raj said, flushing a little himself. "If... if _you're_ uncomfortable with that... my wrist maybe?" He was trying to think of where the veins would be closest to the skin.

Vampires usually bit at the neck, but Mathew also knew of how that was a rather intimate act for a human. "Uh, yeah, your wrist will work," He had never actually bitten someone there, but it could not be that hard, right? "So, uh..." He glanced down at Raj's wrists, waiting for some sort of signal that it really was okay.

Raj held one of his hands out to Matthew, but with the other unbuttoned the top several clasps on his shirt. "Whichever... you're comfortable with I'll be okay with too." He said, trying to make the other feel more at ease. The vampire was going to be biting him... better try to keep the other calm so nothing went wrong.

Smiling once more, Mathew nodded, walking forward and grabbing hold of the other's arm. "Uh, your wrist will work," he repeated. Hoping not to hurt the other - he kind of needed Raj's trust, he was his feeder after all - he brought his fangs done against the other's flesh, biting down until he had broken skin.

Raj nodded and managed to hold back from making any noise, even a louder breath, when he felt Matthew bite. The blood flowed quickly, as though it was trying to escape the body it was moving through. Already, he was feeling better...

Mathew continued to suck at the now opened wound, mildly surprised by just how much blood he managed to get out. Roderich had said something about some sort of injection they were giving human feeders now, made it safer and easier to feed from them. Not that he was complaining one bit - it had been so long since anyone, including himself, had actually been anything close to full.

Relaxing a bit more, Raj sighed as the strange; almost ill feeling that came from not being fed from ebbed away. Looking at the vampire drinking from his wrist, he wondered what blood tasted like to vampires. Or maybe it was like water, no taste?

Continuing, Mathew wondered in the back of his mind just how much blood he was actually allowed to have. After all, a starving vampire could easily drain a full grown person dry, kill them. He assumed, however, that with whatever Raj had been given to make him an official feeder, this would not be a problem.

As Matthew continued to drink, Raj was beginning to feel dizzy. He nearly had to move to sit on a chair or hold onto the table for support when... there was a sudden feeling inside of him. It felt like everything was filling up again, the blood being replenished thanks to Roderich's invention. The dizziness faded, but Raj was still feeling tired, "M-Matthew..." He murmured, hoping to get the other's attention.

Slightly surprised to hear the other say his name, the Canadian vampire's eyes widened a bit as he pulled his mouth away from Raj's wrist, not letting go of it. Not caring about the fact that there was a rather large amount of blood dripping from his chin at the moment, he asked, "What is it, Raj? Something wrong?" He hoped he had not done anything too damaging to the other.

"No... Not really wrong. I just, I think I need to rest for a bit." He couldn't look at the blood dripping from Matthew's chin and he sat down on a nearby chair. Ugh... how pathetic was he? This was one job and he was feeling strange from just one session. Shaking his head to clear it, the human once again offered his wrist, "It's fine... if you're still hungry, please... go ahead."

Walking around the vampire's hideaway, Arthur wondered just where Raj was at the moment. He had checked the other's room and found nothing, so he assumed he was off doing something for the others. Maybe he was doing that blood donation Francis had mentioned earlier? Deciding to continue to look for his friend, he turned to the nearest vampire he could find - who happened to be Alfred. "Alfred, do you happen to have any idea as to where the humans staying here might be at the moment? I'm looking for someone."

Alfred pushed his glasses back up on his nose, looking over at the shorter vampire, "Oh? Who are ya looking for? As far as I know, most of the humans are in feeding sessions. In fact, I'm waiting for my brother to get finished with his."

"Oh, is that so?" asked Arthur, staring at the other slightly taller vampire. "Do you think you could lead the way to where that's taking place, then?" He smiled.

"Yeah, no problem." Alfred said, motioning for Arthur to follow him. The feeding rooms were on the east section of the stronghold, a series of rooms that had lights over the top. "When the lights are on, someone's inside." There were also lists posted at the front of the doors: feeders and their assigned drinkers.

Alfred stopped at a door near to them, "Matthews in this one... who are you looking for exactly?"

"Uh, his name is Raj," replied Arthur, preoccupied as he read the feeder's names on a few of the lists. When he came to the door Alfred had pointed to, the one that apparently held his brother, his emerald eyes widened just a bit. "Oh, look at that, he's in this one... with Mathew," He felt a strange emotion flare up inside of him for a moment, but unsure of what it was, he pushed it away. Turning to the American vampire, he asked, "Well, do you think it would be too impolite to barge in?"

Before Matthew could really start drinking from him again, if he chose to, there was a knock at the door. Alfred, apparently, had no problem with interrupting. "Yo! Mattie, are you almost done in there?"

While Mathew did not want the other feeling sick or anything, he was not one to refuse the other's offer. However, just as he was about to once again sink his teeth back into the other's wrist, he heard his brother's voice at the door. Surprised by the interruption, he called out, "Uh, hey, Al. It's fine, we... we were just finishing up anyway, you can come in if you want."

The other apparently listened to him, for the door opened after Mathew spoke. Much to his surprise, however, the person who walked in first was not his brother, but another vampire that he was not sure he recognized, with short blond hair and bright green eyes. The vampire in question, Arthur, stared at the scene before him for a moment before addressing the human in the room. "Uh, hello, R- Raj."

~End of Chapter 2~


	4. Chapter 3

**(Author's Note: Thank you so much for reading our story. I hope you all have enjoyed the ride so far. Chapters should be coming up faster because we have most of the RP collected into a single document for editing~ Without further ado; here is the third chapter of Dusk to Dawn.)**

For some reason, a large amount of embarrassment rose up inside of Raj at the sight of Arthur walking into the room. His friend was followed closely by another vampire whom he assumed to be "Al". Neither Alfred nor Matthew seemed perturbed by the extra presence in the room, but Raj was uncomfortable. It took him a moment to realize that he really shouldn't feel that way. He was just helping the vampires through feeding, it wasn't meant to be personal.

"Hello, Arthur." He replied, trying to sound as calm as possible while he rolled down the sleeve of his shirt and fixed the other buttons. Glancing once at Matthew let him see that the other wasn't going to be feeding from him again that day so he addressed Arthur, "Err... were you hungry?"

Blinking, Arthur took a rather long time to reply. Mind racing, he searched for a name for the emotion he was feeling. It was not really anger, or embarrassment, or sadness. And it was most certainly not jealousy. No, definitely not. Not noticing the fact that he was blushing a bit, he finally answered, "No, no, I'm fine at the moment." Not exactly the truth, but at the moment he did not really feel like feeding anyway.

"Oh. Alright." Raj said, getting to his feet. All of the symptoms; the dizzy, floating sensation and weakness, from having his blood drained and replenished were gone now. Thanks to the Extension he felt perfectly fine again, at least physically. Mathew, unaware of any signs of awkwardness, turned to Alfred and waved. "H- Hey, Al. How'd the mission go?" He smiled slightly, turning away from Raj altogether. Perhaps he wasn't so out of sync with the strange tension coming from the other people in the room.

"It was a total bust now that you mention it." Alfred said with a huff, "We couldn't get much information. Roderich will probably send us back out soon enough." The American vampire stepped away from the others, heading to the door, "If you're done wanna head out Mattie?"

Mathew sighed. "Sorry to hear that," he muttered. No new information? That was a shame. But at least everyone had made it back safely. "Well, yeah, I guess so." He stood up and followed his brother out of the room, turning to give Raj a quick thanks first.

Once the door clicked shut behind the vampire twins, Raj redirected his attention to the remaining vampire in the room. Looking over at Arthur, the human frowned lightly. He wanted to ask if they really had been unsuccessful in the mission, but didn't know how to phrase it without sounding harsh.

Sighing, Arthur tried once again to push the alien emotion away as he asked, while trying to sound cheerful, "So, how was everything while I was out? I'd tell you about how our mission went, but I'm afraid Alfred was right, we were rather... unsuccessful." He turned to look at the door.

Walking up to stand beside Arthur, Raj's expression was sympathetic, "I'm sorry about that... I'm sure that Roderich will come up with something to help you get more information." Tilting his head he continued, the previous embarrassment fading, "Me? Everything's been fine. I just spent some time adjusting to being a feeder."

That same feeling rose inside Arthur for a moment yet again. He growled at the unwanted emotion, it was such a strange feeling to be confused by his own behavior. Arthur hoped that it would not become a common occurrence. Following a moment's hesitation; the blond vampire was smiling once more. He said, "Oh, glad to hear that. And then you're feeding Mathew, too? I got to know his brother a bit, Alfred. Rather loud if you ask me. I hope he's nice." He rolled his eyes; angry at the Canadian vampire for absolutely no reason, at least, none that he could figure out at that moment.

Fortunately, the growl was quiet enough that it was missed by his human dialogue partner. At the comments on Matthew, he nodded, "Yes. He's nice, rather shy... different than his brother if Alfred is really that noisy." Managing a soft chuckle, he looked over at Arthur, "... Is there anywhere you need to be?"

It had been two days since he'd last seen Arthur and, after the retreat and going underground together it had felt strange to be apart for so long. At least, that was the reasoning he made himself believe.

Arthur smiled again. "No, I don't believe so." He paused, thinking for a moment. "I guess we could go check up on Francis. He went to go speak to Roderich about how the mission went and looked rather down about it." Everyone was upset about how the mission had gone. He would have hated to be the one to admit to the leader that it had all gone wrong and did not envy the position the French vampire was in. But, it was a good opportunity to learn if they were going to be having any more missions. Besides, maybe that would take his mind off of that strange emotion he felt every time Mathew was brought up.

Roderich was sitting at the table in his 'office' with Francis, irritated. "You found nothing?"

The French vampire across the table from him was clearly annoyed with having to explain over and over. He answered with a simple "Oui."

A stern glare was his response and it was clear he was going to have to elaborate, again. "We found nothing concrete. No stable way to count the number of humans moving in and out of the base, finding out who was in charge, or if they were even holding any vampires there. Kiku found possible entry zones."

This was news to the praetor who raised a brow, "You found an entry zone?"

"There is an unguarded hatch at the back of the base, we assume that it's for emergency exits from the basement, and it doesn't seem to have been modified much, meaning that it should be an easier point of entry." Francis said, glad that some of the heat was fading from the brunet vampire's voice.

Roderich opened his mouth to reply, but a knocked at the door interrupted him. Not taking his eyes from the man across the table from him, the elder called, "Come in."

Both looked up when Arthur and Raj came into the room. For a moment, neither said anything, and then Roderich sighed, leaning back in his chair, the look of irritation not leaving his face. "Re-group and go back the day after tomorrow. Be sure to feed well, this time I want you all getting as close to the base as possible, infiltrate it if you can, but don't attack. Just gather information and if you find anything of use, bring it back..."

Arthur sighed. He was excited to be going back again, but leaving Raj like this for a second time was also mildly disappointing. He had just gotten back and already he was told to prepare to go out again. He turned to his human friend. "I... guess we'll be leaving again soon," he muttered, looking down at his feet. "Fun," There was a hint of sarcasm in his tone.

The vampire turned to Roderich. "Anything specific you want me to do to prepare, sir?"

Considering Arthur for a moment Roderich finally asked, "How good are you with a gun?"

Raj gave Arthur a small smile and raised a brow at the older vampire's request. There was an uneasy feeling in his gut. "A gun? You said we won't be attacking."

"Safety precaution." Francis quickly supplied.

Arthur blinked, thinking. He had used a gun in the past for defense, and had not... messed up too much at the time. "I... can use one, if that's what you mean," he finally replied with uncertainty. One thing was for sure, no matter how good he was with a gun, he definitely did not want to have to reach a point where he needed to use it. Not again at least.

"I'll arrange a practice session for tomorrow then." Francis said, getting up from his chair. He walked passed them out the door with barely a nod of farewell. The silence from the Austrian man seemed to be a dismissal for the pair of them as well.

As they walked down the hall, a gnawing feeling built up in Raj, different than when Arthur had walked into the feeding room, but just as troubling. Taking his friend's sleeve he nodded in the direction of a different hall than Francis was walking down, "Can I talk to you...?"

Eyes widening just a bit with surprise, the British vampire turned and nodded. "Yes, of course, Raj." he replied, worried, but hoping nothing was wrong. Once there were farther down the hallway, he turned once more and asked, "So, ah... what's troubling you?" He raised one of his thick eyebrows.

"I might just be reading into things too much..." Raj murmured with a flush once they were out of earshot of Francis and half way down another hall. "But... it seems like..." God, what if he was just being paranoid? It was natural to be a little nervous in this sort of environment wasn't it? "It seems like they don't want to talk around me. The other vampires..." Raj admitted, crossing his arms and leaning against the wall.

Arthur thought over this statement, running his tongue over his fangs as he did so. "Oh, I'm sure that's not..." He paused once more to think. Was that true? Were the other vampires really leaving him out? He sighed, resting his hands on his hips. "You know that the others have extreme prejudice against all humans. Rightfully so, if you ask me. After all and I mean no offense to you of course, your species is in the process of killing mine off..."

Despite Arthur's reassurances, Raj could sense the vampire's extreme dislike of humans. It made him... for the first time in a long while, uncomfortable around the British man. "Arthur..." Frowning a little, Raj continued, though in a quieter tone,"... Vampires haven't always been completely kind to humans... and what makes me so different?"

Shaking his head, Arthur bit down on his bottom lip, fangs sinking in a bit too far and tasting his own blood. Opening his mouth and running his tongue over the wound, he muttered, "Now, Raj, don't think anyone here actually has anything against you. We're all incredibly glad to have you around and some of us - just think of Mathew, for instance - depend on you." He smiled again though, some small part of his mind recognized that there was an inner twinge at the thought of the other blond. "Besides, can you imagine how lost I would be here if you hadn't come along with me?" He chuckled, rolling his eyes.

"Listen, I think you should just give it a bit of time. I mean, eventually the others will start trusting you a bit more, and then everything will be fine." Ugh, why did his own words sound so forced?

Even though Arthur kept trying to calm his slightly agitated state, Raj couldn't help but feel as though something were still... off. Looking at his friend evenly he said, "I can imagine..."

He knew one thing; Arthur didn't deserve to have all of his paranoid worries dumped on him. The Indian shook his head, waving away his words with the twirl of a wrist, "Forget it. It's fine... I'm sure things will work out."

Arthur sighed, not at all wanting the other to be upset. Plus this whole conversation was not doing anything to help that stupid nameless emotion that kept on reemerging. "Raj, please. Everything will work out, I'm sure of it. Just... give it time." He forced another smile, feeling a bit like he was repeating himself.

"Now, ah... what should we do now? You heard what Roderich said - I don't really have anything to do until the day after tomorrow." For the first time since the conversation began, the British vampire was actually able to give his friend a real smile. The atmosphere seemed to lighten considerably.

Alfred lounged in the studio style room he shared with his brother in the strong hold, tossing a ball against the wall and frowning. That mission had been a total bust! Could things get any worse? Now they were getting sent out again! He didn't mind the action, but something was telling him that things were going to be just as bad as before.

"Bye, Dad." He called with slight sarcasm as Francis shut the door behind him. Alfred was quite sure he heard his Sire mutter some curse in French before the lock clicked. The chuckle that came from teasing the older vampire died in the back of his throat, not really making him feel any better.

Desperate to get his mind off of it, he turned to Matthew, who was reading in the corner, "So... how was your first session with that human?"

Looking up from the book he had been reading, Mathew shrugged. "Oh, he was fine, I guess. Kind of strange. His personality, not his blood." He laughed softly. "I don't know, but he felt really awkward. Like he... didn't wanna be here. Maybe I'm just thinking too far into things." He paused. "What about the newcomer, uh... Arthur? Did you get a chance to talk to him much? He arrived here with Raj, didn't he?" He glanced back down at his book as he spoke.

"Yeah, I talked to Arthur. He's still kind of a stick in the mud, but he seems alright. And that human is new. Of course he'd be jumpy. It's not your fault." Alfred said with a shrug, "Don't read into it... he's just food after all, isn't he?"

In Alfred's opinion, his brother was a little sensitive on issues like this. Humans were food, plain and simple. They could be amusing at times, but when everything was boiled down... food was food... "Dammit all this thinking has made me hungry." The American grumbled to himself, flopping down on his bed. Alfred's feeding session wasn't until that evening.

Mathew sighed. "Yeah, I guess you're right." He muttered. "I mean, it's not like he can do anything to help our cause anyway. Nothing but feed us, that is." He smiled again and continued reading, adjusting his glasses just a bit as he did so.

"Still, Arthur seems to trust him. Then again, I don't know Arthur well enough to trust him, but..." he finally let out the question that had been bugging him all day. "Isn't strange that any vampire would trust a human that much? Especially after what they've done and all? C'mon, Al, you can be smart when you want to, give me an answer..."

Sighing, Alfred pretended to be hurt by Matthew's words, "You really know how to get a guy don't you, Mattie? I'm plenty smart." Huffing he rolled over onto his stomach to look over at his brother.

"Honestly... I think it has something to do with the fact that they spent so much time together. Maybe he got attached? I think Roderich should have assigned him to another human for feeding." The American mused, frowning in thought.

Mathew nodded, sighing slightly as he did. "I guess you're right. I don't think it's right, though. For a vampire to be attached to a human and all, or vice versa, for that matter. Especially not during these times, when we're so against each other." He paused, eyes skimming over the next line of the book he was reading. "It's not like I have anything against him or anything, I just don't think he should... be treated equally."

Pausing, Mathew quickly added, "I guess I sound a bit too much like the humans if I put it that way. What I mean is: he shouldn't be trusted. He's just our food supply at the moment. It's Arthur that's bothering me, how he's 'friends' with him." He shook his head. "It's like, a hunter and its prey trying to be friends during a famine. A bit too risky if you ask me."

"The thing about those types of friendships." Alfred murmured, going back to tossing the ball, though this time he bounced it off the wall right next to Matthew. "Is that they don't last long... for one reason or another. Arthur is still a vampire, he'll choose us if it ever comes down to it. Let's just hope we don't lose a source of food in the process?"

Nodding in agreement, Mathew flinched a bit as the ball sped past his head. Rolling his eyes, he picked the item up and feebly tossed it back to his brother. "Yeah. Maybe someone should talk to him? About how he shouldn't get too close to Raj, I mean. Now that I think about it, it may not be too safe, either. What if Raj ends up betraying us? It's not like that sort of thing hasn't happened before, you heard about what happened in Florida right? And if he does end up doing that, who knows what would happen to Arthur."

"That's what the Extension is for isn't it? He can't back out now, unless he dies or something. And Arthur would be fine, not like the guy wouldn't die from something at some time right?"

The Canadian vampire shook his head. "We can't lose any more vampires. I mean, so many of us have already fled or been killed, if we lose anyone else..." He shuddered. Their species was already losing; they could not let themselves be defeated entirely.

Standing up, Alfred smiled, what seemed like a good idea popping into his head, "I could talk to him! Leave it to me, Mattie!"

Mathew sighed and nodded, burying his face in his book again. "Yeah, okay. I'll just wait here, then. Tell me how it goes." Oh, he hoped Alfred would not mess this up. He knew that his brother tried, but no matter what he did he came across most of the time as loud and annoying.

"Great." Alfred got up off of his bed, barely pausing to give his brother a wave as he darted out the door...

Raj looked up as Alfred came into the room, he and Arthur had gone looking around the rest of the strong hold, settling in a library of sorts. Most of the books held accounts from older, deceased vampire's perspectives, and it was rather fascinating for the human.

"Hey, Arttie... Raj." The newcomer greeted before focusing on the green-eyed vampire. "Do you have a sec? It's kind of important and about our mission." To some extent, in Alfred's mind, what he was about to talk about was important for the mission. If Arthur was preoccupied thanks to that human... he could cause trouble in the future.

Arthur raised a busy eyebrow. What did Alfred want now? Maybe it was rude of him to assume such things, but he did not exactly feel like the American was one to worry much about something like their mission. He had a much more carefree attitude. However, if he really wanted to talk to him, he would not refuse. "Uh, okay, I suppose." He turned to Raj. "Excuse me for a moment," He shrugged, trying to show the human that he honestly did not know what this about.

Turning back to face Alfred, the British vampire smiled and asked, "So, what is it you wanted to discuss?" As he spoke he walked toward the door, wanting a bit of privacy as they spoke.

Once they were in the relative privacy that the hallway offered, Alfred decided to be straight forward. Looking into the other vampire's eyes so to better read his reaction, Alfred started, "You might not like what I have to say, but it is still important."

"A few of us... we don't like how close you are getting to that human." He had always been blunt but maybe that was over the top? Deciding to amend the statement a little he continued with, "He's useful and is helping us I'll give you that, but, we need to know that vampires and our safety, not his, is your priority."

Arthur blinked, shocked to hear these words. Up until now, he had been certain everything was fine with Raj being around. After all, it was not like he was doing anything wrong. In fact, he was feeding them. That was a good thing, right? "I... Alfred, are you sure you know what you're saying?" He asked, not at all wanting to believe a word of it. Were Raj's feelings of trepidation around the other vampires actually beginning to have some basis? "I mean, maybe... maybe if you got to know him more you would understand."

"And I know what you mean, of course, about our priorities." the Brit continued. "It's not like there's going to be a time when we have to choose between our feeders and the vampires, right? Can't we all just... work together?"

Alfred gave Arthur a very confused look, "Work together?" He repeated with a sigh. "To a certain extent is fine but... it's dangerous to get attached to him. What if he decides to go back to the humans? It wouldn't be the first time. Their species is out to wipe us out! At least if we're victorious the humans would have a purpose."

The taller vampire took a step back from the other, "I don't want to insult you or anything. But just think about it?"

Arthur sighed. "He's not going to go back to the humans," he muttered, turning away. He could tell that Alfred meant what he said, that he really did not mean to insult him, but it did not stop him from feeling a bit of anger rising in him. What, did he think he was an idiot?! He knew when a friend was a true friend, and Raj most definitely was. Alfred was just... biased. Yes, because he was too ignorant to understand. Arthur growled to himself. How dare he say that he was growing too attached?!

Hearing the growl, Alfred tried to do damage control, "Dude, calm down... just make sure he stays as loyal as you say he is." The taller blond murmured before accepting defeat for now and heading back down the hall. Now, more than ever, he was worried for the British vampire... it sounded like he thought of that human as a real friend... not just a friend to vampires, someone who would be loyal, but as a more personal relationship...

Halfway to the room where the blood packages for the prisoners were kept, Yao ran into Ludwig. The taller soldier took a step back, giving the proper salute and nod, "If you have a moment sir, I have a report on the mission."

"Oh," Yao murmured, thinking back on his promise to get Leon more blood. "Okay, but make it quick. I have something to do." He forced himself to think that hearing about Ludwig's mission was more important than getting back to the vampire. That was true, right? After all, his job was to kill those monsters, not talk to them while they sat in his dungeon...

"We were unable to find the vampire hide out." Ludwig began, wanting to get the bad news out of the way first, in order to start in on the... possibly good news. "However, we found a series of collapsed tunnels. It looks like once they move through a certain area they try to cover their tracks. But, Gilbert is already working on a system that will allow us to track the tunnels back to their source."

Yao nodded at this, still slightly preoccupied. "Oh, that's good. So we were on the right track, aru. Do you think that sending more troops out will do anything, or just waste time?" He glanced towards the direction of where the blood was kept again, hoping that Ludwig would not realize just how distracted he was.

Ludwig thought this over; though he couldn't help but notice something seemed off about his commander. Perhaps the smaller man was more perturbed by this news than he was letting on? Would he only be settled once they actually made some progress? "I say we send some more troops to explore these tunnels and try to see where they lead. There was something there; I think that vampire actually told us the truth."

"His name's Leon," murmured Yao before clasping a hand over his mouth, face paling. "And, um..." He blinked a few times, whatever words he had planned to say completely gone. "Yes... go ahead and send the troops, aru. Immediately. The quicker the better!" What was wrong with him, calling that creature by his name like that? Like he was defending a friend?!

Ludwig stared at Yao, clearly confused. Why was his Commander acting this way? Was the stress of the job getting to him? There was a brief, tense silence before he managed to murmur, "Yes, sir..." Feeling awkward he walked away, down to the other end of the hall and turned the corner.

Hating himself, Yao shook his head. "I'm an idiot," he grumbled, turning in the direction he had been heading for in the first place. He hoped Ludwig would not think any less of him as a commander, seeing him act like such a fool back there. Blood packages were kept in the back of the kitchens. He finally got to the small refrigerator-like room, glancing around at the boxes of blood packed onto the ice coated shelves. Nearly all of them were empty, but he managed to find a few that still had packages. Grabbing one at random and feeling rather disgusted as he did so, he made his way back to Leon.

When the door to the dungeons opened again, Leon looked up, mildly surprised to see Yao coming back in. "You got me food?" He asked, eyes moving from the package in the human's hand to his face with a curious expression.

"Well, you... err, seemed hungry, aru." Yao looked away from the other, not at all liking the feeling of having the other's eyes on him. He walked over and tossed the small package between the bars at the front of his cell. The other had seemed so surprised by it. It was not that big a deal, right? It was just getting him something to eat.

Ugh, what was he thinking?! He was feeding a vampire for no reason other than because the other seemed a bit discomforted. He really was an idiot.

Catching the package, Leon attempted to warm it with his hands. "Thank you..." He said quietly, unable to wait any longer and bit into the package. Still... for some reason he didn't want to make Yao uncomfortable by watching him eat. Any other time he would have thought the squeamish behavior funny, but now, things were different. There was the tiniest sliver of having some respect for this human inside of him. And he had no idea how it had come to be.

Even with the other turned away (something Yao greatly appreciated him doing); the Chinese man could not help but close his eyes tightly, still unable to bare the visual of someone drinking blood. It was just... not right to him. Blood was not for drinking, it was to keep someone alive. When Leon finished, he murmured, "Sorry it's... packaged. I know you said earlier it didn't taste very good."

Finished, Leon folded the empty packet, crumpling it in his hand and licking his lips clean as he turned back around. "Well, I managed to warm it a bit so it wasn't that bad... And it's okay. You're feeding me that's..." A small amount of color rose to his cheeks, made all the more visible thanks to the fresh blood in his system, "I appreciate it."

Noticing the other's slightly reddened face and trying not to pay much attention to it, Yao replied with a slightly awkward half-chuckle, "It's nothing, aru. You're... you're my prisoner, we can't have you getting too weak or anything..." He sighed, eyes traveling over everything but the vampire's face. There was no harm in this conversation right? Leon was giving him information and whether he liked to admit it or not it was interesting, talking to a vampire like this.

"Still..." Leon leaned back against the wall again, "You've been very... civil with me... by comparison of how this could be. I think that deserves thanks." Taking note of the others restless gaze, he voiced the thought that came with it, "Why aren't you looking at me?"

Yao froze at the other's question, forcing his eyes back onto the vampire. "I just... I guess I'm a bit confused, aru." he murmured. Sighing and sitting down, crossing his legs as he did so, he continued speaking. "I was given this job because the other humans knew I could be trusted. They knew that I would easily be able to kill as many vampires as necessary and not feel a bit of regret. And I prided myself on that, aru. But now... I'm not sure I'm too deserving of the job."

The vampire watched his human captor carefully, feeling more and more confused... perhaps a bit like Yao was feeling himself. "Not deserving? Why? Because you're keeping me a live a little longer?"

Leon made himself keep a calm expression, "Maybe some humans wouldn't like it, but I'm glad that you can show a little more... pardon the expression, humanity, instead of killing every vampire you see on the spot."

Blinking and looking up at the other for a moment, Yao sighed. "I suppose you're right, in a sense. But... still. My job isn't to sit across from my prisoners and have deep, heart-to-heart conversations with them, aru. I'm supposed to be out killing." He swallowed. "I really planned to kill them all, you know. The vampires, I mean. And I still do. I'm not giving up my job. I need to make sure us humans win this idiotic war."

Yao paused for a moment. "And I'm sorry, by the way." he muttered, so quiet that he was not sure the other could hear him. "For... for calling you pathetic and weak and... all of that. I'm honestly not sure what to think of your species anymore, at least in that sense." Half of him hoped Leon could not hear what he was saying. He could practically feel his pride crumbling as he spoke, and he hated it.

Leon was silent for what felt like an eternity to the vampire and he found himself leaning toward the human, just slightly. He had heard Yao. He had heard everything and... It felt strange. Strange because it was nice, nice to know that, on some level, Yao wasn't feeling as very hate-filled against his species or even him anymore. Yes, the man seemed insistent on continuing to kill them, on wiping out the vampires. But, it wasn't as aggressive, biased, or hard to listen to as he thought it would be. It felt a little bit like this conversation was taking place outside of their current situation. As if they were simply talking to each other without the labeling of vampire and human… to a certain extend. And, in all honesty, it was flooring him.

At long last, he found his voice, but all he managed was a soft tone, "I should apologize as well... I've killed my share of humans, I've called you a coward... and I want you to know that I don't hate humans."

Yao looked up once more at this, eyes widening just a bit. For some reason, hearing the other man apologizing felt sort of scary. Like something was changing between them drastically that he was not sure should. "I... I forgive you, aru." he murmured. "You had the right to call me a coward. I am, aren't I? After all, I don't have the courage to talk to you unless you're behind that cage."

No, no matter how close they got, Yao was not stupid. He would **not** let the other out of that cell unless he had plenty of backup and rope to tie him up with the second he was free. No way would he be in the same room with him if he had the ability to come closer than a few feet. No, no, no.

Leon got up from his spot on the wall and walked right up to the bars, so that he was directly in front of Yao. "That's not cowardice, that's what anyone would do if they had..." He sighed, "If they had an animal in a cage. Think of it as common sense." Managing a smile he said, "At least you're talking to me, being a prisoner is very boring and kind of lonely."

Feeling words extremely similar to his own repeated, yet again, made him shiver a bit. "Y- you're not an animal," Yao murmured. "But," He smiled just a bit. "I guess you are right. And yes, I can see it being sort of boring. You don't have much to do." He paused. "What have you been doing in your free time, anyway?" Part of the Chinese man could not imagine it, being trapped in a cage like that all day except when you were needed to give information on killing your own species. Much to his dismay, it made him feel rather guilty.

Leon managed a slightly bitter smile as he stepped away from the bars a bit, only to lean against the wall. "Most of the time I sleep. I hate to admit it but being a young vampire means you burn through blood quickly." He flushed, "Young vampires are responsible for most of the deaths that come to a human from feeding, and we get too hungry sometimes."

Shaking his head he continued, not wanting to make Yao nervous, "I sleep, I think. I think a lot about us; humans and vampires I mean."

Sighing, Yao nodded. "We don't have much blood stored up here. As I'm sure you know most of us have been made inedible. We would run out rather quickly if we gave you more blood than you've been receiving." He looked around the room once more. "_I _sure would hate to be trapped here, aru." He muttered.

"Better captivity than death." Leon said, looking through the bars, he felt uncertain asking this question, but had to voice it. "What happens when you run out of blood?" They could just order more, but the fact that Yao acknowledged a shortage... Leon had the feeling that his days as an informant were numbered if something didn't change.

Yao thought for a moment. "Well I suppose we could try to get more," He bit down on his lower lip in thought. "But with so many people becoming inedible... hmm, most of the humans that haven't gotten the injection yet are working on the opposite side. It'd be hard to acquire." He looked back up at his captive, wondering. What would happen to Leon if that happened, they ran out of blood? He'd die.

"I would appreciate it, but all the same I can't help but ask: why?" Leon moved close to the bars again, to better watch Yao's expression, "Why are you so willing to keep me alive? I can't imagine your superiors are happy about this, even if I am giving information."

There it was again, that uncomfortable feeling in his chest... urging him to get more answers from the human. It was as though there was a question he was supposed to ask, but had no idea what it was.

Seeing the other stare at him and feeling his face heat up a bit, Yao murmured, "I guess I just..." He thought for a moment. In the beginning, it had only been for information. While the humans were winning, it was impossible to advance any farther without some sort of help. Now, however, he really was not too important. They had found tunnels that could possibly lead them to the other vampires, and Leon did not know enough more to really help them.

"I..." He stopped speaking again. It was definitely not because he did not want to see him die; because he had grown somewhat attached to him. Definitely not. It was simply... something else. Yao sighed.

Dissatisfied but having the feeling that Yao wouldn't answer him for a bit, the vampire waved away his words. "Forget it."

Meanwhile, in the base's recreation room of sorts, Ludwig lounged on a couch with a confused expression. Yao had been behaving strangely when he'd ran into him in the hall... almost like he was hurrying off to be somewhere... He'd been distant and distracted for the past couple of days as well...

A possible solution arrived in the form of his commander's Taiwanese second in command. "Hey!" The blond soldier called to her, waving her over.

Turning to face the German soldier, the Taiwanese girl, Mai, blinked with surprise and walked over. "Uh, yes? What is it?" She asked, surprised to hear the other call out to her like this.

Sighing, Ludwig got to his feet, crossing his arms. He was grateful that they were the only two in the room. "You've worked with Commander Wang for many years, yes?" Huffing, the German continued with, "Have you noticed anything... different about him lately?"

Mei thought for a moment before giving a rather awkward half-nod. "Yeah, I have." She frowned, looking around as if making sure they really were alone. "Come to think of it, I haven't really seen him around much since we captured that vampire. He's seemed really... busy, if that makes sense." She suddenly looked mildly worried. "You don't think anything's wrong, do you?"

Ludwig nodded, "I gave him a report on our situation and he seemed very distracted. He almost had no reaction to our information, though he still managed to give me some new orders." He rocked back on his heels, "What could he be busy with? Finding those hiding vampires should be our number one priority!"

Shrugging, Mei looked around a bit. "Umm," She thought for a bit more before giving an uncertain reply of, "Maybe it has something to do with that vampire? What if he said something to Commander that made him distracted or something?" She sighed, shaking her head. "It's weird. I don't think I've ever seen him distracted from the job at hand before now. Something serious must be going on."

Adjusting his hat, Ludwig straightened his uniform. "Yes, well... let's hope that's not the case." He remembered legends of vampires being able to control humans; hopefully this wasn't happening to their leader. "I for one will be happy when we get rid of that thing."

Mei nodded, eyes going rather wide. "Me too. He's causing way too much trouble around here. I don't know why Commander even thought it was a good idea to keep him alive in the first place!" Honestly, she was rather worried for Yao. What if that vampire was doing something horrible to him that they did not know about? What if Yao was sick or something? What if this was the beginning of the tables turning, and the vampires started to beat them? Oh, she had so many "what if" questions that it made her sick.

Reaching out, Mei's shoulder was lightly patted by the taller soldier, "It will be all right. I will speak to the Commander tonight... hopefully once we get to work on those tunnels we can convince him that vampire is no longer needed."

Nodding, Mei smiled at the other. "Okay, you do that. Try to figure out what's been bothering him, and try convincing him to get the vampire out of the way." Because once he was gone, things would have to go back to normal, right? And then everything would be absolutely fine.

Giving a farewell nod to Mei, Ludwig turned and walked down the hall. He had to find Yao before they went out on their next mission. Otherwise... things could get worse.

Yao sighed and stood up, looking away from Leon as he muttered, "I... I think I should probably get going, aru. I have business to attend to." He turned away from the vampire and made his way out of the prison. Has it been a good idea, going to talk to him like that? In all honesty, he felt rather scared now. Something had changed and he did not like it very much.

Wanting to think of something else, he wondered aloud, "I wonder if Ludwig has already left on that mission..." Part of him hoped he had. He did not exactly feel like confronting him again.

"Not yet, sir." Ludwig said, coming down the hall. He saluted as a greeting, but didn't wait for Yao to address him. "Sir... I was wondering if everything is all right? Some of the troop has noticed that you've been, and I mean no disrespect, that you've been distracted lately."

Jumping in surprise as he ran into the other, Yao took a moment to regain his senses before replying, tone rather nervous, "I- I... yes, everything's... fine." Why was that so hard for him to say? Everything was fine, wasn't it? "And... I've seem distracted? Hmm, don't know why that could be." He looked away, staring at the wall.

"Oh I see." Ludwig took a step back, "Umm... I was wondering what will you do with that vampire now that we have more information? I think he's past his usefulness. Sir, I think we should get rid of him."

Yao's face paled a bit. Get rid of him? As in kill him? That did make sense, now that he thought about it. After all, they really did not need him anymore. And he was the leader of the mission; it was his job to do what was right for the whole group. However... "N- no, not yet. We should keep him for the moment, aru." He glanced to the other side, praying the other would not ask any more questions.

Forced to accept this for now, Ludwig continued down the hall. Mei was right; it was almost as though Yao had become attached to the vampire. Maybe something had happened? One thing was certain; he was going to do his damned best to stop this from getting any worse.

~End of Chapter 3~


	5. Chapter 4

**(Author's Note: Thank you so much to everyone who has read/reviewed this story so far. Yes, this chapter is shorter than the others, for that we apologize. But, we hope that you enjoy it anyway! Thank you too, to our Betas~! Side Note: The second arc of the story will be coming a little slower thanks to some plot errors on my part (Lily's part).)**

Rolling his eyes, Arthur walked back into the room. "Sorry about that." He told the other, referring to leaving the room a moment ago, still rather ticked off by the conversation he had just had with Alfred. He had to remember not to be too angry with him. After all, he was just a boy. He did not know what he was saying, right? The British vampire clicked his tongue, arms folding.

Lowering the book he'd been thumbing through, Raj made a split second decision to keep it a secret that he had been eavesdropping on the conversation in the hallway. Rising from his chair he walked over to his friend, trying to comfort himself with the thought that at least _Arthur _seemed to think of him as a friend and defended him well. Curious about how the other would react he tried to casually probe with, "Is everything alright? You look... troubled."

Shaking his head a bit, Arthur replied, "Oh, I'm fine. Have a bit on my mind at the moment, but nothing to worry about, I assure you." He forced a smile again, scratching the back of his neck awkwardly.

Tilting his head towards the other, Raj looked into Arthur's eyes; he tried again, "You know... you could tell me if something was bothering you." He had expressed his own concerns earlier that day would Arthur do the same now?

Arthur sighed once more. He hated lying to the other or even keeping things from him, but he figured that in this scenario it was the best. After all, he did not want the other to think that he agreed with what Alfred had said. "It's nothing, Raj, I promise. Just vampire things." He looked down. It was technically true.

Not pleased with how the conversation was already going, the human decided to give him another chance, walking back those few paces to the couch. Perhaps space would make him more comfortable?

Following the other a couple of steps, Arthur asked, hoping his true intentions were hidden, "Say, if... if you knew someone who wasn't trusted by others what would you do? I mean, how would you communicate to the others how you felt?" He growled. "I'm sorry, that doesn't make any sense, does it?"

Raj bit his lip, thinking that over, since he'd heard the conversation it helped supply an explanation. "No, I understand your question..." How to phrase this so Arthur wouldn't know he'd overheard Alfred? "Well, I would ask the others why they thought that person was not trustworthy. And, I'd also probably make sure that there was nothing to make that person untrustworthy... Haha, if _that_ makes sense?"

Arthur shrugged, thinking over this answer. Completely unaware of the other knowing the conversation that had taken place, he answered with, "But I don't know how well that will work in his case." After all, that would mean trying to find out why the others did not trust Raj, and he already was certain he knew the answer – because he's human. He frowned.

Why did that answer seem so confusing to him? Raj _was _a human. But at the same time, he was a little more than that. There was no need to be suspicious of him!

"Well, thank you for the advice, even if it doesn't help me much." He forced his expression into a smile, trying to be a bit more optimistic.

"I'm sorry I'm not of any help." Even though Arthur smiled, Raj's slight frown stayed on his face. "Is this a problem with another of the feeders around here?" He mock guessed, running a hand through his hair.

Feeling his face redden a bit, Arthur found himself frozen, trying to figure out how to react to this. "YYes, I guess it is." Oh, what now? Was he supposed to lie? Or let the other know of the whole conversation he had had with Alfred? "Well, at least, that's how Alfred made it out to be..."

A complete lie. He bit down on his lower lip, worried. He sure hoped his friend would not realize he was being so dishonest. For being as old as he was, sometimes he still questioned his own judgment. And right now he was floundering pretty pathetically wondering if this had been the right decision. It's all to protect him, the vampire thought, if he _really _knew how everyone felt about him, how they felt about _all _humans, it would not bode well.

"Oh..." Raj murmured, nodding, "It's Alfred's feeder, isn't it?" He played along for now and leaned back on the couch, "I don't know... I'm sorry but I can't think of anything."

Arthur sighed as he glanced over to Alfred and Kiku, both of whom were beside him at the moment. Francis was off scoping the area apparently, and was supposed to return any second. The mission had really just begun, and not much had happened other than the small group of vampires arriving at the base.

The place itself did not exactly look heavily guarded, but at the same time, Arthur knew perfectly well just how highly advanced human technology could be. He turned to Kiku. "Do you think this will go any better than it did last time?" He hoped it would. Returning to Roderich with nothing done would be a huge embarrassment.

Kiku shook his head, it was as good of an answer as he was going to get. He was still completely absorbed in his work, checking the logs on his computer, having managed to make some headway against the human's technology defenses without raising any alarms. This left Arthur to try and make small talk with Alfred, anything to keep his mind off of the abysmal conversation that he had had with Raj before leaving and their very awkward 'good-bye' and 'good luck's.

A few moments later, Francis returned, "The entry is clear and we're lucky. A majority of the humans have left the base it seems. I say we go in and work our way through the levels, learn as much as we can."

Kiku nodded, "That sounds like it will work."

Arthur nodded. "Yes, good," he replied. "Let's get a move on, then. I don't want to be gone too long." He thought back to Raj and the obvious mixed feelings the other vampires had of him. Why did it seem, that the more he thought about it, that the other vampires were singling Raj out to pick on? He did not want to be away from him for longer than he had to, just in case worst came to worst while he was away.

"Lead the way, Francis."

It turned out that Ludwig didn't get any opportunity to dwell on the subject of his Commander and their fanged prisoner, for the very next day they set off for the supposed tunnel site. In the back of a grouping very old house in the lower town of Le Harve, some men had found false walls and openings in the basements. These openings looked like they lead to some sort of tunnel but all of them had been sealed up.

A few of the other soldiers had gone to map the ground and try to find if it was safe to burrow into the tunnels again and more still spread out even further, attempting to see how far the former pathways stretched. Ludwig leaned against the side of the car, glad that Yao had come with them and was away from the vampire in their dungeon. Granted, it would have been far too odd to refuse, since both Ludwig and Mei had insisted that he join them to oversee the troop's progress.

Looking over at his commander, he asked, "Do you think these tunnels are what we are looking for?"

Slightly preoccupied, Yao took a moment to realize he was being addressed. Blinking with surprise, he answered, "Oh, uh... yes, probably. After all, Leon said that they were underground, near the outskirts, didn't he? And that's exactly where these tunnels were found." He shrugged. "Makes sense to me, aru."

Thoughts drifting off a bit, he suddenly turned back to Ludwig and asked, "By the way, do you know how a vampire's relationship to food works? What I mean to say is, if a vampire does not eat, do they die? How long does it take?" As far as he knew, Leon had had nothing to eat since he went and visited him. That was over twenty-four hours ago.

Ludwig glanced over at Yao, a little surprised by his question. "Well... it depends on the vampire's age. Younger ones get hungry quicker... I'd say that most of the young ones, anyone under the age of one-hundred only last a week without food. An older one can last up to a month without blood… Can you believe some of those creatures have lived past the age of five hundred?" It was horribly unnatural; the thought of existing for so long, and the price you paid was the lives of innocent humans. He had to suppress a shudder.

The soldier's eyes narrowed a little as he remembered the previous conversation he'd had with Mei before heading out. "Why do you ask...? Sir?"

Thinking for a moment, Yao tried to keep his tone casual as he answered, "Oh, no... Reason, aru." He looked around, slightly worried. "And, uh... how long will this mission take?" He definitely did not want Leon to starve to death while he was away.

Yao froze mentally. **What** was he thinking?! He was supposed to be a strong commander in charge of destroying all of those monsters, not worrying about one's well-being. If... if Leon died while he was away, (not that he would be gone for more than another day or so) that would be for the better. He swallowed slightly at this thought.

"Hopefully we will be back at the base by nightfall with enough information to make a plan to fix the tunnel, or at least follow its original path..." Ludwig said, checking a file from inside the trunk they were standing beside. "We could be able to really start hunting this underground stronghold of vampires by the end of the week!" He was getting excited; finally, they might be able to wipe out all of those disgusting creatures!

Yao forced a smile. "Yes, and then we'll have won for sure! There's no way they can get an upper hand when we've got them all cornered, aru! They'll figure out just how powerful we humans can be." His voice was extremely feeble and lacking any sort of excitement that his words seemed to need. "So... uh... should we go and do something to help the mission?" Anything to get his mind off of that vampire back in his dungeons.

"Yes, sir... let's go see if Mei has anything to report." Ludwig said, climbing back into the truck and waiting for Yao to join him. The pair drove along markers in the dirt that signified the 'path' below them. After a short drive they came across their group of soldiers. Ludwig pulled over and got up, "Mei!"

Turning, Mei waved when she noticed Ludwig and Yao approaching. "Oh, hey!" she called out, walking over. "A huge portion of the team has gone underground and is trying to dig through the tunnels. We've found a few clues and such that we're hoping mean that we're in the right direction." Remembering the conversation she and Ludwig had had earlier, she turned to Yao and asked, "Commander, is everything alright?" The smile never left her face as she spoke.

Yao blinked and turned to the other. Once again his mind had drifted off, but he couldn't help but notice that everyone seemed to be asking him this question as of late. Had he done something to warrant their scrutiny? "Oh, um... yes, I'm fine, aru. Thanks for asking." He nodded. "Glad to hear things are going well so far..."

"Hopefully we can uncover a path to this place the vampires are hiding." Ludwig said with a nod. It seemed that their prisoner was telling the truth... maybe he knew more than even he was aware of. After all, the creature had thought the hide away was a rumor.

Smiling, Yao nodded. "Yes, hopefully. Who knows maybe this will actually result in us winning, beating those monsters." A strange feeling built up in his chest as he said these words. Monsters? That did not sound right. However, that was the word he had been using to describe them before, wasn't it? Why did it sound so wrong now? His expression turned into a frown.

One by one, the vampires managed to make their way into the lowest levels of the human's base, thanks to an uncovered chute. Taking a quick headcount, Francis murmured, "Let's try to move quickly..." He led them down a series of paths before pausing, "... There are other vampires here." Francis' tone was dark and his words near a growl.

Arthur turned with surprised. "Are there really?" The thought scared him a bit. He definitely did not want to imagine other vampires here, trapped possibly, by the humans. What if someone he knew was here, being starved or tortured? He shook his head. While Raj was his friend, that did not mean his leniency extended to the rest of the Indian man's species. In fact, he hated them more and more as this whole thing went on.

Kiku stepped up beside Arthur as Francis continued to lead them down the corridors, explaining in a rather hushed tone, "Francis-san has always been very good at smelling out vampires... that's why he was put in charge."

"Over here!" The French vampire called, he had stopped outside of a cell, fists clenched in anger at what lay inside. Leon was curled up on his bed, feeling weak... he hadn't eaten anything since Yao had come to talk to him, that was a day and a half ago. There was a noise nearby and he made himself sit up to see who had... "Who are you?"

Blinking in surprise, Arthur's eyes widened. Francis really _was_ good at smelling other vampires out, if he could lead them to this one so quickly. Taking a step forward, Arthur studied the vampire in front of him for a moment before he let out a soft gasp. Was that... "Leon?!" he asked with shock. It was hard to tell, he looked rather weak, and just... overall different than when he had last seen him. "Is... is that you?"

The sight of his Sire on the other side of the bars was enough for Leon to get up. "Arthur?! What are you...? How did you get here?"

Alfred glanced between Arthur and the young vampire in the cell, "A friend of yours?"

Francis clicked his tongue in disgust at the cell's bars and sent Kiku to find keys or anything to get the other out.

"I'm his Sire." Unable to believe his own eyes, Arthur took a step forward yet again. "Leon, that... that really is you! I can't believe you're alive and... And..." He paused, looking around the rather disgusting, dark prison that the vampire had been trapped in all this time. "You're... here. In this place." He shook his head. "How?" Half of him was amazed that the other was still even alive, being stuck in prison with these humans for so long.

He was very happy to see his Sire but at the same time... there was the tickle of another emotion building inside of him. What was it? Why had it taken them so long to get to him? And another feeling... another thought... had they run into Yao along the way?

Taking a deep breath to calm down, there was no way he should be thinking of a human at a time like this, Leon said, "I was caught a while ago. I couldn't find a safe house and ran into human troops. What are you all doing here? Who are these vampires, Arthur?" Was he being rescued?

Arthur smiled, extremely relieved to even hear Leon's voice again. It was a miracle that he was still breathing, especially here, trapped by humans. "After we got separated I fled to a safe house with Raj," He was pretty sure that two had met somewhere between Leon's constant comings and goings from their group. Ah... Perhaps he should have been more careful with the boy; he was only fifty in vampire years after all, something like a toddler in their terms. But now was not really the time to question his parenting skills. "I was assigned this mission along with these three - Alfred, Francis, and Kiku was the one who just left." He pointed to the other vampires as he spoke.

"What's it been like here?" he suddenly asked, rather worried. "Did they do anything to you?"

"Raj is with you guys? So he really did join our side?" The smaller vampire asked, looking between his Sire and the others. At Arthur's second question, Leon shook his head, "Nothing horrible... I mean, I think most of them have had the injection; they've been feeding me blood packets. And they ask me questions but nothing very bad yet."

"We should get him out of here." Kiku said quietly, returning with a small set of keys, but his eyes widened when Leon shook his head again.

The boy-vampire himself was surprised, why had he done that? A feeling had risen up inside of him. He didn't... Yao's face flashed into his mind and he realized that, for some reason, he couldn't leave. Not yet. The words to follow fell from his lips easily, "I've learned a lot being here, they think I'm weak because I'm young I could... I could be a spy here."

Blinking with surprise at these words, Arthur thought the suggestion over. The idea of a spy on the inside would definitely be helpful to them, and give them quite an advantage. However, Leon was so young, and who knows what the humans would do to him in the near future?! He sighed, for a moment torn on what to do. "Maybe? It's not a bad idea, I'll give you that."

Turning to Francis, he asked, "What do you think? Could Leon be a spy here?" It was a brave thing to want to do, he knew that. After all, many vampires would be much too scared to stay, imprisoned by a bunch of humans. "He could be extremely useful to the cause."

"A very brave suggestion." Francis said with a nod, "And I agree, he's in the perfect spot and we have a good way to get in without anyone noticing..." He frowned, thinking it over. At last he nodded again, "We probably won't have an opportunity this good again, and I say we let your Fledgling do this job."

"Cool." Alfred chuckled, "We'll really be able to take out the humans with an insider here. And because they think you're a prisoner they'll totally feel like they can talk openly around you!"

Arthur laughed at this. "Alfred, no human is going to talk openly to Leon." (No one noticed the slight flinch that the young vampire gave at that statement.) "He's a vampire, they're human." His expression became serious once more. "However, he will probably be interrogated quite often, and he'll have the chance to overhear conversations. Therefore, he will still be able to provide quite a bit of information."

His expression returned to a smile as he turned to Leon. "Well, good for you for doing such a brave thing to help us." He glanced over at Francis. "Anything else we should do while we're inside, by the way?"

"I say we try to get a lay out of this base for recreating our own blueprints back at the base." Francis said, "But be careful you stay out of range of surveillance, Arthur could you stay with Leon?"

Arthur nodded. "Yes, of course." He wanted to get a chance to talk a bit more with the boy. It had been awhile now, and he was extremely interested about finding out just what had taken place once he had been captured. "Good luck."

Leon sat down, feeling exhausted again since the burst of energy at seeing a familiar face had worn away. "I'm glad you managed to get away." He said, smiling, "And you said earlier that Raj is still with you?"

"Yes, he's been with me since we arrived at the safe house." He frowned, kneeling beside the bars as he remembered his conversation with Alfred. "Can I ask you something, Leon?" he suddenly requested, not waiting for an answer as he continued. "A few of the others have been rather... untrusting of Raj. And I want to prove that they have nothing to worry about, but it's hard because... well, he's human, and we're not." He sighed. He wondered if Leon would be able to relate. Not long ago, he had been human himself, after all.

Leon tilted his head in thought, "Mm... I don't really know... I think that humans can be good, but... I know that they can change their minds." He thought of Yao and how the human had acted so hostile to him earlier and now... well now it was better? The young vampire shook his head, "I'm sorry I can't really explain it, but I think Raj will support you. I have no idea how you're going to convince the others though."

He frowned, looking at his Sire, "How is he handling it? Them not trusting him?"

Arthur thought for a moment before hesitantly replying, "I... well he talked to me about it once. Seemed rather upset, but not too angry or anything. Taking it better than I probably could: find out I was in a group where I had zero points in trustworthiness." He rolled his eyes and leaned against the wall. It was a strange conversation to be having, but at the same time, it was all he could think about for a topic, lest he fall back into his shock at finding Leon.

Before Leon could comment, the other vampires came back down the hall. "We have to go." Francis said, "Kiku spotted the human's truck coming in, it's best if we get out of here before they get too close."

Leon looked at Arthur, frowning lightly but he made a shooing motion with his hand, "Please go... it won't be helping anyone if you are all caught as well."

Arthur sighed, turning back to Leon. He would be alright wouldn't he? "Well, goodbye for now. And thank you again for taking on this job." He smiled. A spy from the inside would be extremely useful. With these words he turned to the rest of his group. "We should move quickly, we don't want to get caught down there." He turned to the direction they had entered from.

Looking at their commander the two soldiers frowned lightly as well, noting the change in his expression. "Are you okay, Sir?" Ludwig asked once more, adjusting his hat. "Should we head back to base?" Maybe Yao had just spent too much time in the sun... Still, he could not shake the feeling that since he offered the idea of returning to base, the other would accept easily.

For some reason, Yao found himself nodding immediately. "Yes, I think that would be best, aru." He turned to Mei. "Take care of things back here, okay? Make sure everything goes according to plan and be prepared to give me a full report when you get back."

Mei raised an eyebrow. "Y- Yes, commander," she replied. She glanced at Ludwig, doing the best she could to give him a "he's doing it again" sort of look. Yes, once again Yao was acting rather... off. With a sigh she left the two, returning to the other soldiers.

Giving Mei a stiff nod that showed he agreed, Ludwig walked with Yao back to the truck and began heading back towards the base. Watching his Commander out of the corner of his eye, he asked, "Sir... since we know we're on the right track... or at least very close. What will we be doing with that vampire?"

Yao froze in his seat at this question, mind racing as he tried to figure out a decent answer. Because they did have a point, even if it was a question brought up a lot. "K- Keep him around for a bit longer, aru." But _why_? He wondered to himself. Why did he even care enough about that thing to _want_ him alive? Trying to answer his own question, he added, "In case... we need more information. He's been right so far, hasn't he?"

"He has..." Ludwig said, his frown deepening. Something seemed so very off. Sighing, he continued to drive, hoping that his Commander would snap out of it soon.

A smile on his face, Yao nodded in agreement. He glanced away from Ludwig and looked out the window, admiring the scenery, hoping to get his mind off of other things. It was still bothering him a bit, how close he had become with Leon. Part of him was not at all against the idea of killing him, just to get him off of his mind.

"We should be back at the base in around an hour." Ludwig said, turning his eyes back to the rode. Sometimes he thought... he thought... that Yao actually liked that little monster.

Yao turned back to the German and nodded, smiling once more. "Good," he replied, tone wavering just a bit for some reason. Ludwig sure was acting... suspicious of him, or something. The tone he was using and the way he kept glancing at him like that made Yao feel rather uneasy. Repeating a similar question to the one they kept asking him, the Commander inquired, "Hey, is something wrong?"

Surprised that the question he and Mei were beginning to ask quite often around Yao was being turned on him, Ludwig took a moment to answer. Damn... was he being too obvious? Ludwig kept his eyes on the road, not even glancing at Yao now. "Nothing, Sir... I just want to get back to base quickly."

"Me too, aru." Yao agreed, nodding. Deciding for now that he was probably just paranoid, the commander decided to ignore Ludwig's behavior. Instead, he made a mental note to himself to make sure to feed Leon when he returned. It had been awhile since he had last had anything to eat; the boy must be starving...

What was he thinking?! Yao bit down on his lower lip, face paling just a bit. He sounded like a mother or something. And to that _creature_ no less! Leon was not a boy, sure he looked young but he had to be much, much older. This was getting far too out of hand.

Ludwig pulled the truck into the base's garage, opening the doors. "... I'll send a message to Mei telling her we got back and asking for a progress report." He said before heading off. The soldier would also be telling Mei that they would have to survey their Commander more carefully... Yao was taking note of their watchful behavior.

Nodding, Yao smiled once more and replied, "Okay, you do that!" Waving, he waited for the other to be completely out of sight before walking rather hurriedly to the room where the packaged blood was kept. He was still disturbed by his own actions, the way he had been thinking about Leon. However, this was not - in his opinion, at least - a valid reason to starve the other.

Leon was alone in his cell, curled up on the small bed in the corner when he heard someone approaching. He almost called out, questioning if his Sire had returned, but kept quiet just in time... because his next reaction shocked him. Leon felt like smiling when Yao came into view! Quick to control his facial features he murmured a slightly terse, "Hello."

Hearing Leon's voice, Yao smiled to himself. And a split second later nearly slammed his own head into the wall. What the hell?! Making sure to force his expression into something closer to a frown before he was in the other's line of vision, Yao greeted him with, "Hello, aru. I assume nothing happened while we were away?"

For a moment, Leon was afraid that Yao knew the other vampires had been in the base. But, the human wasn't shouting at him or angry it seemed... "You're correct, though it's not as if I can patrol the halls for you." Leon said sarcastically, tapping on the cell bars with a hand. Ugh… first comment sarcasm? Just a few minutes with his Sire and already the man's personality had rubbed off on him.

Yao chuckled softly. "Yes, but... well, at least you were safe." He froze. Oh no, he had worded that wrong. He did not mean that like he was happy for the other's wellbeing. Rather, he... he just meant... "What I mean to say is, you're obvious proof that nothing too bad happened." He sighed, hoping that this was a decent way to cover his error.

Leon stared at Yao, feeling his cheeks heat. Even if it was just an accident, the human soldier had still said it hadn't he? Carefully he nodded, "I see..." It was then that he noticed the blood package in Yao's hand, "Did you bring that for me?"

"Oh, yeah, here." Yao handed the package to Leon. "You were right, by the way, about where the vampire's would be hiding. We made a bit of progress, aru. A few soldiers are still out digging through the tunnels, trying to find a passage to the vampire's safehouse." Why was he even telling him this? It was not like Leon would want to hear about the downfall of his own species or anything.

Biting into the packet, Leon managed to cover his surprise and how much the humans had done. Swallowing a mouthful, he turned away, further enabling him to hide his expressions. "... Really? Well... good... I suppose." He said, unable to think of anything else, but he needed Yao to keep talking.

Even with the other's head turned, Yao still had to look away. He was still unable to watch the other drink blood. It was just... disgusting, really. "Yes, very good..." He raised an eyebrow. "For us," he added. "You, however, shouldn't be too pleased at all, should you? After all, we're one step closer to wiping out your species for good, aru."

Leon crumpled the now empty packet, "... I think I said before that I have days where I like them... and days that I don't." It struck him as a little strange that the other kept asking questions like this. Was that really what Yao was after? Information on how exactly vampires were made and how they worked? If that was the case he really didn't have much to give, there were a lot of things he needed to figure out himself still. He turned to face the human again, asking with a slight note of hesitation, "So are you here to kill me?" He hadn't meant to bring it up again, but it seemed like lately there was little else on his mind. Perhaps it was only because of how much more jeopardy he'd placed himself in by requesting to continue his stay here.

Yao found himself extremely surprised by this question. He shook his head immediately. "No, not at all. Why... why would I?" The question made his face flush just a bit. "I mean... it's not like you've done anything that is... worthy of death, aru." He looked Leon in the eyes, shivering a bit as he did for some reason. Nothing worthy of death. It suddenly struck him that such a statement should sound odd coming from him, the very state of being a vampire was now condemnable for automatic execution. Just by living Leon was worthy of death. At least, that is what he had believed for so many years and now… Now he was not so sure.

~End of Chapter Four~


	6. Chapter 5

**(Hello everyone! I'm sorry I didn't put anything up yesterday… I really wanted to update for Halloween, but work got in the way. Also: the chapters from here on out will be coming at a slower rate because of editing. ^^' Forgive us? And my God... these things just get shorter and shorter don't they? ^^'' I'm sorry!)**

Forcing himself not to look away, Leon said, "No, I haven't... I just thought you would be done with me." Standing, he walked right up to the bars, "I am grateful that you've kept me alive, especially now... I think it is strange. You are going to kill every one of my species; and sure I've been your informant, but... why?" He felt like he was talking in circles. Surely, they'd had this conversation before. What was it? Why was the human hesitating so much?

Yao felt a bit of deja vu at the other's words, at the whole conversation. Every other time he had managed to tip toe around finding an actual answer, and now, here he was, being interrogated yet again. "I..." the Chinese commander paused and broke eye contact with the vampire before him.

Why was he keeping him alive, anyway? He would probably benefit more from just killing him right now. And yet... that did not even seem like a rational possibility, for some reason. Like the very idea was so outrageous. "I just don't think... it's right yet," he finally answered in a murmur.

Leon huffed out a sharp breath, eyes narrowing at those words. "Not right?" That answer made little sense to him. What could possibly make the situation more 'right' from Yao's point of view? Leon could think of nothing, but he was also out of practice 'thinking like a human' as Arthur would put it.

"What would make it more right?" He asked, daring the human to answer.

Staring at the other, Yao blinked, mind racing. "Uh..." He pursed his lips in thought. There really was not a correct answer to this, was there? Honestly, if he had plans to kill the other, now would be the best time. But he just... could not. He could not imagine himself doing it, or having someone else do it, or even just... thinking about it.

"I'm not sure, aru." Yao finally admitted with a sigh. "I guess we'll... just have to wait and see." He hated his answer, but he felt as if it was the only thing that worked.

Leaning against the bars, Leon was tempted to reach out and shake Yao, but the human would call for the guards and he would never get his say or be able to spy for the others. "I don't understand you." He felt almost angry, but his voice was getting quieter and quieter. "You should hate me... you should be happy to get rid of me, to want it, you need it for the survival of your kind. And yet you... you..."

Growling in frustration, Leon sighed heavily, "And I should want the same..."

Surprised by these words, Yao blinked once more, all words lost. "I don't know," he murmured. "I don't know about any of this. I don't even know why I decided to let you live in the first place, let alone why you're still here now. You... shouldn't be. I should have killed you." He growled. "I should be killing you right now, not talking to you casually in a dungeon."

Even though some sane part of his mind was reminding him, begging him to stay silent so that he could remain a spy, Leon couldn't help but grip the bars and lean even closer. When he was around Yao some of his common sense seemed to fly out the window. "So why haven't you done it yet?"

The Chinese man was struck speechless yet again. "Because..." He felt himself torn between giving a more honest answer and keeping his dignity. Never before could he remember throwing away his image to talk to someone, let alone a vampire. However, he found the words spilling out of his mouth before he had the chance to stop himself, "Because I just can't, okay?"

"Not good enough for me." Leon said quietly, that streak of daring still pushing him forward. He continued to question the human in a strange, almost role reversal, save for their physical locations, "What's holding you back... Yao?"

Yao bit down on his lip, feeling extremely trapped. Ironic, really, considering the position the two were in, with Leon being the one in the prison cell. "I don't know," he muttered, feeling a lump form in his throat. No, he was not going to cry. "It's confusing, aru. All of this is- I wish we just weren't at war with your stupid species at all." Did he regret saying that?! He... was not sure.

That was enough to shock Leon into letting go of the bars and taking a step back. He was speechless, eyes widened slightly. All of his thoughts were fragmented and jumbled: How... why...? But, at the same time, he felt empathy for the human. "I... understand."

"But you don't understand." Yao continued, tone soft. He stared at the ground. "You're a victim of this whole thing. You have to sit back and watch your species get destroyed, aru. But... I'm winning. It's my job to kill everyone. If I express that opinion to anyone else, I don't know what would happen." He would no longer be allowed to be a leading commander that was for sure.

"And my species is trying very hard to turn yours into food..." Leon replied, stepping close to the bars again, "I think that you no longer wanting to kill everyone... I think that is a good thing."

For a moment, Yao's expression faltered. "I... don't know. I must sound like I'm repeating myself, but..." He heaved a long sigh. "I can't even imagine what the others would think of me if they heard what I was saying." He shook his head and finally looked up at his captive, eyes meeting for a moment.

Looking into Yao's eyes like that, Leon felt a faint flush dust his cheeks before he replied. "I'm sure the other vampires would be disappointed that I'm talking to you like this as well..."

Oh not just disappointed. He was quite sure that Arthur and some of the other vampires who had strong opinions on the war would be livid that he had a human Commander within arm's reach and was not strangling the life out of him. Not that he would ever have to tell them about these little heart-to-hearts that kept occurring between him and Yao.

Something about that statement made Yao shiver a bit. He looked away from Leon's eyes to study the rest of the other's body, not saying anything for a moment. "I... wonder how the troops are doing." He thought aloud. "Do you think they've found anything about the others yet?" His question was not exactly directed at the vampire before him, but more of just a random remark.

Closing his own eyes, Leon didn't step away from the bars but rested his forehead against them. "I don't want to think about it..." Whether or not it was really a statement for Yao to react to, the vampire was silent afterwards. But, at least he could tell the others, if they ever made it back into the base, that the humans were trying to track their escape tunnels.

Yet, those thoughts came unbidden to him. Images of Arthur, some of the vampires he knew, ones he knew only because Arthur told him their names, and the humans who were working with them filtered through his mind ... dead... No, he couldn't think like that!

Yao sighed, almost feeling... regretful? He bit down on his lip at this. No, he could not regret doing this. It was his job, and this should be a good thing. He needed the vampires dead. He needed all of them gone. This was a huge step forward, finding the vampire's hideaway, and he had to be grateful for it.

And yet... that weird bit of regret was still burning within him mildly. "And you're still alive," he muttered aloud, glancing back up at Leon.

Vampire and human looked at one another, eye color almost matching. "... I am." Leon said, wanting to prompt Yao to continue speaking. Was the other telling him that he was going to die soon? Or... something else, he couldn't imagine what.

Surprised to hear the other answer, Yao closed his eyes. "Yes, aru. And I still don't know if this is good or bad." He kept his tone level, not wanting any sort of emotion showing. He had already humiliated himself enough today.

Unable to help himself, Leon chuckled, "Perhaps it is a little of both?" Finally, he was able to detach himself, let go of the bars and step away. Yao was... an interesting human and Leon could already tell that he was far too attached for his own good.

Yao laughed softly, if only to get rid of the awful mix of emotions swirling inside of him at the moment. "True," he agreed half-heartedly. "I wonder if I should go check up on Ludwig. He might have more information on the mission." Not that he necessarily wanted to leave Leon. However, the idea of getting his mind set on something else was not exactly a bad one.

"I'm not going anywhere." Leon said, stepping back again and sitting down on the cot he used as a bed, "I think you can find me again..."

Yao smiled at these words, not trying to stop himself this time as he did so. He turned toward the exit. "Okay, then. I'll... probably be back." He gave the other a quick wave before leaving the dungeon, walking down the hallways in search of the general in question.

The base's communication and security room was set up with three desks, all with several monitors. Two of the desks were used for watching security cameras and managing records, the third was for communicating with those in the field. Currently, Ludwig was sitting at the third desk, the other two occupied by other soldiers.

Glancing over his shoulder at the other desks he saw that his companions: brunette soldiers, named Carriedo and Sey, were both asleep on the job. Normally, this would have meant he would berate the pair of them about protocol and the importance of maintaining healthy habits and watching the monitors. But right now, it meant that he could talk to Mei without worrying that anyone in the room would overhear him…

Placing the headphones on, he called, "Sargent?"

"Hello~!" The voice on the other end was much too loud and much too male to be his female commanding officer. But, it was a voice he recognized.

"Gilbert, what are you doing on this line?"

"Mei-Mei here is just finishing up some things, and I saw that a call was coming in. You didn't say hi when you came to visit."

The blond soldier rolled his eyes and said, "No, I was not there to chat, we came to oversee your progress."

"Tch, well it's boring. Just a bunch of rocks and dust and—"

On the other end of the line there was the muffled noise of a scuffle and Gilbert yelping in pain. Ludwig didn't even need to hear the new voice in order to know that Mei had taken control of the phone.

"Hello."

"You heard him call you Mei-Mei didn't you?"

"Don't say that name or I'll bury you as well." Still, her voice had taken on a teasing tone so Ludwig allowed himself to chuckle.

Sobering, he got right down to business, "Well, was I right? Are we on their trail?"

"Yes. Your brother has actually just finished mapping half of our progress; I'll have him send the papers to you in a moment. These tunnels are deep and it looks like they stretch on for over a day's worth of driving. And, it looks like in some places they were only half buried, we have to be careful in tracking them. Tino's truck fell into a hole. He's alright, but a little shaken, we'll just have to be more cautious."

"How soon can we find the source of these tunnels?"

"I'm not sure; it looks like they made a bunch of false pathways. These bastards are cleverer than we give them credit for. But, tell the commander that it shouldn't be too long before we find the true path." Mei sighed, "Speaking of Commander Wang how is he?"

"He still seems," The German soldier fished for the right word, "In a fog, and he keeps disappearing. I don't know where he goes, maybe to his room? And he still keeps talking about that vampire."

"Well, it will all be over soon. We'll find this run away coven and end it all."

Mei sighed after hanging up. She felt as if this whole expedition had gone on for far too long. While she had hoped before that they were getting somewhere, the amount of digging and clearing that they had gone through by now was starting to wear her down. Turning to one of the nearest soldiers, she called, "How much longer now?"

As if this was not enough for the girl, she was also trying to work with Ludwig on figuring out what was wrong with their commander. The thought had been worrying her and occupying her mind quite a bit lately. Yao was acting so strange, and when they were so close to victory, she was worried he would do something to lessen their chances of succeeding. Was the stress of being Commander beginning to get to him?

Ludwig had just finished up his conversation with Mei and was walking out of the radio room when he spotted Yao at the other end of the hall. "Commander!" He called, signaling the others attention. Walking up to the higher ranking officer, he saluted and presented a transcript that Mei sent him.

"The tunnels stretch on for quite a while, we don't know how far or how long it will take to clear them... but I believe we have found them, sir."

Yao smiled at these words, forcing any thoughts that had anything to do with Leon aside. "Good. Tell the troops to keep going, aru. This could be exactly what we've been waiting for!" Which was a good thing, right? That they were so close to wiping out the other vampires? His smile became slightly forced as he mentally slapped himself for the thought. "Anything else?"

"Mei and I agree that... we should send more troops in order to prepare for the vampires, in case they learn that their tunnels are being pushed through and try to attack." Ludwig said, "Of course we will not leave our bases unprotected, however, since we are so close, perhaps some reinforcements will be of use, Sir?" He offered, thumbing through a few papers.

"Sounds like a good idea to me, aru." Yao replied, once again preoccupied with unrelated thoughts. "Send as many as you think necessary, but make sure to leave a good number of them here. I can stay and take charge over whoever decides to remain here" His eyes glanced around the hallway.

Ludwig nodded, "I will remain here as well, and Mei can take charge of the men in the field." There was no way he was going to leave Yao at the base without being watched. Not when the other's behavior was growing stranger and stranger.

The drive back to the vampire stronghold was quiet, but for a much different reason. Now there was anticipation in the air instead of dread. Things had turned out much better than before; Francis was even humming to himself when he departed off to report to Roderich.

Things were finally starting to look better. Arthur smiled slightly as he walked down the hallway to Raj's room. He had been telling himself from the beginning that things would go well for them, but it was not until now that he was starting to believe it. Maybe they would actually get the upper hand, with Leon working from the inside and all the other's also starting to regain a bit of hope.

The door opened after his first knock, Raj's face appeared in front of him, "Hey... I take it things went better this time?" Arthur's body language was much more relaxed and his expression was calmer than last time. Stepping aside, he ushered the vampire into his room.

Upon entering, Arthur turned to his human friend and nodded. "Yes. We found Leon, who's been captured for a while, apparently. He offered to stay behind and work as a spy from the inside." He smiled as he spoke, once again feeling a surge of hope run through him. "Just think, Raj! We might actually be getting somewhere!" He felt like hugging the other, or... hugging anyone, really. He could not remember the last time he had been in such a good mood.

Raj did it for him, throwing his arms around the man's shoulders. "I'm glad he's okay. And Leon's not hurt? He's willing to spy for you?" That seemed like such a risk, but still... even he could see it was an opportunity they could never have again...

Surprised by the hug but not at all rejecting it, he smiled and hugged the other back as he replied, "Yes, he's fine. And he's more than willing. It was his suggestion, after all." And who knows, maybe once they started to actually beat the humans, the others would start trusting Raj. "Depending on what Roderich says, I hope we'll be able to pick him up and bring him here soon." A faint smile crossed the blond vampire's face, almost wistful, "He's stronger than I expected." Arthur shook his head, "But, enough about that."

Slowly, the Indian let his arms slide down from around Arthur. Stepping back, Raj remembered that he hadn't had a feeding session in a while... the very thought seemed to make his blood move faster in his veins, seeking to be drunk. "Umm... are you hungry?" He asked Arthur.

Deciding not to try to lie or be modest, Arthur nodded. "Yes, I... guess I am." It had been awhile. He had not even had anything to eat before leaving. His mind traveled to Matthew, and he felt that strange feeling stir within him a bit. Not liking that at all, he distracted himself by asking, "So, you've been doing this a bit more often, where are you comfortable with?" If he remembered correctly, Mathew preferred biting at the wrist.

Raj looked at Arthur, thinking it over. "Umm... well... either wrist or neck, but isn't the neck more traditional?" He guessed, shrugging, "I will be fine with whatever you choose but I just need to have a feeding soon." The statement made him wince inwardly; actually needing to be fed from… it sounded almost unnatural.

Arthur knew of the injection the feeders got, but it was still strange to hear of a human needing to be fed from. It was like those rumors of feeder-whores. The idea of his friend acting like one of those… things was laughable. Thankfully, Arthur managed to hold his tongue. Considering the offer, he sighed. "Neck, I suppose. If that's alright." For some reason, part of him wanted to bite at the neck just because Mathew wasn't. He could not explain why.

Shrugging and walking closer to Raj so that he was directly in front of him, he glanced at him once more. "So... uh... okay, then." Just as awkward as last time, the vampire noted. With this thought he sunk his fangs down into the other's flesh.

Immediately, Raj sighed, feeling the building blood being drained out by Arthur. Even if the vampire felt awkward, that had vanished for him. Maybe it came from being fed from every day? One just got used to it? Frowning, he tried to make Arthur feel more comfortable and once again rested his hands on the other's shoulders. "You can relax. I'm used to it."

While these words did not do much for the vampire relaxation-wise, it did make him feel that same damn emotion, that awful feeling he could not quite put his finger on. Used to it? As in this was just normal for him now, being fed from? It bothered him a bit too much for his liking. A split second later he realized that it really shouldn't. It was all for the greater good wasn't it? Unblocked humans were rare now a days, anyone who wasn't Blocked would need to be able to feed as many vampires as needed. It was a necessity.

Trying to ignore the feeling, Arthur continued, focusing more on how good it was to finally have something in his stomach again.

Sensing, through the slightly stiff movements from the vampire drinking from him, that talking was not doing much to relax his friend, Raj almost regretted saying anything. Arthur had been in such a good mood when he'd arrived, and now the human felt as though he had done something to slightly spoil that... had he? Some part of him thought that it could be something else and yet he wondered why his friend had been so awkward during the times he'd been fed from... Matthew certainly showed no hesitation. And as far as he could tell, none of the other feeders or vampires seemed to be awkward during these sessions.

Arthur finally pulled away, licking at his lips a bit before smiling kindly. "Well, thank you, Raj." Ugh, he hated it, how awkward he felt. Raj seemed okay enough, so it had nothing to do with worry for him... so why was it? Why in the world was he so bothered by doing this? It was necessary to survive, even.

Nodding, Raj got a bit of gauze to dab the left over smears from his neck. After tossing the soiled bandage, he turned to face Arthur again. "Is everything alright?"

"Everything's fine, Raj. You've done nothing to spoil my mood." He smiled once more. "All you've done since I've returned is agree with me and then feed me." He laughed a bit, but a small amount of worry swelled up inside of him. Had he come across in a way that made the other think he had done something wrong?

Looking at Arthur for a moment, Raj sighed and shook his head, "I must be... imagining things again." He murmured, managing to smile at the other, "I'm sorry, don't worry about it." Walking over to his bed, he sat on top of it, "Ahh... is there anything else that happened on your mission?"

Arthur thought for a moment before shaking his head. "No, not anything interesting. The highlight of it all really was just finding Leon again. Other than that, nothing." He shrugged, sitting down beside the other. "Er, what about you? Did anything interesting happen while I was away?"

For some reason, the British vampire wanted very badly to change the subject to something else.

"I spent more time in the library. I'm trying to learn all that I can about vampires." It was Raj's turn to shift uncomfortably as he remembered the conversation that had taken place before Arthur left, "I was hoping that it will help my situation here." Forcing a chuckle, he looked away from his friend, "Hey, Arthur... when were you made a vampire?"

The thought suddenly occurred to him, he'd known the vampire since he was a teenager. And yet, he'd never learned how old the man was or when or where he was changed. He didn't know much about Arthur's past until Leon came into the picture.

Rather shocked by this question, Arthur cleared his throat before answering, "It... was a while ago," It was also a rather touchy subject for any vampire. "Yes, quite a while now. I mean, I had been a vampire long before you ever met me, and we've known each other for a rather long time."

He sighed. "I don't think I remember the feeling at all anymore. Of being human, I mean."

"Oh..." Raj tilted his head curiously at Arthur. "You can't?" It seemed strange to him, that the vampire could be so kind, yet not remember what it was like to be a human himself. "How... old are you? If that is not an insulting question?"

He hoped that this line of conversation was more comfortable.

Arthur took a moment to think, ashamed of the fact that he literally had to count back a few years to make sure he was correct. "I believe I'm pushing... two hundred thirty... two?" He was not completely sure he was right, seeing as when you had lived for as long as he had age really was not a concern.

He laughed a bit. "I'm rather old, aren't I?" Much older than Raj had even been alive, he knew.

Chuckling softly, Raj nodded, "Oh, just a little bit..." A part of him was amazed that Arthur had lived for so long, even if he was a vampire. "That's actually rather impressive that you're so old. You've probably seen a lot."

Arthur chuckled. "Well, I'm not that old. I mean, there are definitely older vampires than me." He could actually think of a few just off the top of his head. Francis and Roderich were definitely older than he was. Yes, when you were basically immortal... two hundred thirty-something was no exactly impressive. Still, no human could ever live for so long, so he could see why Raj would be fascinated with such an idea.

"I suppose I have seen quite a bit." He eventually muttered, lost in thought now.

The change in Arthur's expression, rapt with attention for his memories. It was rather endearing in Raj's opinion, and it took him a moment to realize that those thoughts... were probably not wise to have in this sort of environment. Especially not with the other vampires behaving so distrusting of him. Shaking his head to clear it, the darker skinned man asked, "Good memories?"

Arthur shrugged. "Some of them," he replied, still smiling slightly. At least most of them were more on a positive side. There was silence. The vampire, feeling rather bad for talking only about himself, changed the subject by asking, "Say do you remember when you first decided it was a good idea to work with us rather than your species?" After a moment of quietness once more, he hastily added, "I'm not saying I don't like it, of course. But I don't think we've discussed it much and I'm interested."

It was Raj's turn to be lost in thought, mind working back to those first few years of the war, before the serum for inedible blood was developed. That was when the fight had been the bloodiest, vampires were not struggling for a food source and humans were at their most wary, each side exposed such a ferocity...

"I've always thought that most vampires were like you, Arthur... but I think I really made my decision when we saw those vampires killed in Coventry." Looking up at his friend he asked, "... what do you want to know exactly?"

Shrugging, Arthur replied with, "I'm not asking for too much detail," He chuckled, "I just... want to know why you decided we were better than the humans." He was silent, not at all liking how he worded that. "I mean, are, but seeing as you are one of the humans, I want to know why you were smart enough to fight against them."

Ugh, he sounded just like Roderich and Alfred, interrogating the other. It was not at all that he did no trust him; just he wanted to know. No, he needed to know. He needed to know exactly why the other really was on their side.

At Arthur's words, Raj's thoughtful if a little stoic expression was now mixed with a frown. The way Arthur was talking... "I don't think..." '_That you are better than we are'_ was what he had been about to say, but caught himself just in time. Something like that would start an argument...

Trying again Raj cleared his throat and said, watching Arthur's face, "It's complicated." And it was, at least for him, but before he decided to go out on a limb and explain himself... "What would you have done if I'd joined them?"

Caught off-guard by this question, Arthur hesitantly replied, "I would have been extremely disappointed, to say the least." He felt the smile he had been wearing falter just a bit. He wanted to go on, explain to the other just how happy he was to have him on his side, but for some reason, he felt like anything he said would come out as rather dumb and even insulting. "It really is wonderful, that you're here on our side..."

"And I am on your side." Raj affirmed, nodding. While Arthur's assurances pacified him just a little he felt himself growing slightly weary with this conversation. "I chose to fight with you and the vampires because at least then, if you won, an entire species wouldn't be wiped out... you don't deserve that."

Smiling weakly once more, Arthur started to feel just a bit of awkwardness begin to build between them. Once again, he worked on trying to find a new topic. "Er... what have you been eating around here, anyway?" What had the vampires gotten for the humans to eat? Meat? Fruit? The conversation was not exactly interesting, but he figured it would be easier to discuss than the one they were currently engaged in.

Lying back on the bed, Raj accepted the change of topic. "They've actually managed to get good food, different types and everything. The human population down here is low, so that is probably how they are spinning out the storages... I'll admit I was surprised."

"That's nice, then. To have a good supply of things to eat." Part of Arthur wished he still had a larger diet like Raj did, so that he did not have to rely on just one substance to live. "The other vampires here sure do a nice job of keeping everything organized, hm?"

Arthur was surprised to realize just how nice it was to change the subject. That other one had been rather... hard to discuss, for some reason.

"Yes, it is nice." Raj said, nodding, "... Do you still eat human food? Or is it only blood now?" He was curious, since the other brought up eating anyway...

"Hmm, human food really doesn't do anything for us, and it's hard to even taste it. I can't think of a reason to really want to eat it anymore." Arthur replied with a sigh. "But blood is good, and it's not like what we eat is the most important thing in the world, right?" He chuckled. Then again, wasn't that how the war between the humans and the vampires started? Because they drank blood and humans did not?

"I see..." Sitting up again, Raj stretched, "All this talk of food has made me hungry... I think I will go to the cafeteria." Standing he glanced at Arthur as he grabbed the keys for his room, "Want to come with me?"

Nodding, Arthur stood up and walked over to Raj. "I'd love to," he replied with a smile. Anything to distract him from all of the thoughts and emotions still running through him at the moment.

~End of Chapter 5~


	7. Chapter 6

**(AN: Sorry for the long wait everyone~! Finally we have a piece of action and war in this chapter… I hope that everything looks alright. Happy Thanksgiving! Many thanks to our Beta and reviewers! This fan fiction is also being posted to tumblr thanks to Fangirly.**

**P.S. Are these chapters too long? Is that what is what is keeping people from reading?**

**P.S.S. I'm betting that the lack of views is really from the unpopularity of these pairings. Haha… Oh well~)**

Time passed… for both sides of the war. For the vampires, there was a sense of anticipation as news of Leon's decision to act as spy spread through the stronghold. Francis and his group were able to slip back into the human base and work up a very detailed blueprint and information on some of the human's movements thanks to Leon. However, for the humans in the stronghold, things more or less remained the same. Feeders, it seemed, were only one or two steps above the common human, one that would have fought with the vampires instead of siding with them. They put on a good show of appearing otherwise; the humans were well cared for. But, whenever anything important happened, especially if information regarding movement outside of the stronghold, it was kept strictly between vampires. This didn't really apply to Raj and some of the humans that he had grown close to, thanks to Arthur's ability to fill them in on bits and pieces. But, there was an extent to which the blond vampire would hold back, with 'reasons' of course: it only applies to vampires, it really isn't important… It irked more than one of the Feeders, but what could be done? The vampires had very good reason not to trust any human. One species attempting to wipe out another will do that.

For the humans, it was a matter of trying to find the correct path to the stronghold, which was a difficult feat in and of itself. Back at the base, things neither accelerated nor regressed to normal with Yao's behavior. Though, he was forced to be more careful thanks to Ludwig's watchful behavior. He tried not to feel bad about it, but it was a shame that he could only smuggle blood to Leon every couple of days or so. For a while, he tried to conduct more 'interrogations' with the young vampire, but that only made it more and more apparent that Leon really didn't have any more valuable information for the humans to use. So, he spent his days pacing his cell and talking to Yao when the Commander was able to visit him. Slowly, the vampire found himself looking forward to these visits.

The soldier turned back towards Mei, "Ma'am, we are almost there... our scanners have detected both human and vampires at least twenty minutes dig away."

Sighing in relief at this statement, Mei smiled and nodded. "Good, continue, then. The faster we get there the better…"

Quite suddenly, sirens began to wail throughout the strong hold. Many of the vampires began moving quickly, those sirens meant that humans, enemy humans, were close by. In midst of people struggling to get items together and prepare to flee or fight, Roderich caught Arthur. "Kirkland, the humans are closing in. I need you to help with evacuations, take the feeders and younger vampires to the far east tunnel, get as far as you can as quickly as you can. Got it?"

The vampire head's voice was strained and he already was barking orders at someone else.

Arthur, shocked by the fact that he had been given such a task, nodded. "O- Of course!" he replied, nodding and running toward the area where most of the feeders stayed. He knew he had to be quick about this, or else it could be too late. "Raj!?" he called out, not only wanting to be assured of his friend's safety, but also knowing that it was his duty to get all feeders out of the hideaway.

Many of the humans were already looking around outside, Raj's door opened, "I heard the sirens... everyone has... what's going on? We're being attacked aren't we?" He put it together from the expression on Arthur's face.

They didn't have much time and together, they managed to get most of the young vampires and all of the feeders to the correct tunnel. Francis was waiting for them with trucks, "Four vampires and one feeder to every truck." He instructed and the small groups managed to move forward. Glancing at his former team member, the French vampire nodded and took off.

As soon as he rounded the corner an echoing blast could be heard... the human soldiers had breached the vampire stronghold. Once the trucks were further away, Arthur turned to Raj, who had gotten into the same truck he had. He clenched his hands into fists. "I can't believe it!" he snapped. "They... actually found us." He could not believe it. Things had been going so well, and then... this had to happen. What if something serious happened? How many lives would be lost this time? He hated himself for this, for what was happening, for letting his guard down and actually looking on the positive side for once.

"Is there even a way to fix any of this? Are we out of the war now?" the British vampire sighed and closed his emerald eyes.

Raj was driving and he barely glanced at his companion while the trucks continued to rumble away from the attack. "... I don't know..." He muttered trying to focus but his own mind was spinning in a thousand directions.

Mathew was terrified. He had felt so safe here, like they did not have to worry about anything. And now here they were, trying to escape as humans invaded their precious hideout. The Canadian turned to his brother, who was right beside him. "We- we've got to get out of here," the vampire panted, knowing he was stating the obvious. As he turned a corner he froze, eyes going wide, as he ran into two dark-haired humans, both of which were holding large wooden stakes.

"A- Al?" whimpered Mathew, eyes darting to the vampire beside him in hope of support. "What now?"

The sight of the humans brought a low growl from Alfred and he groped for his gun, finding the holster attached to his hip empty. How could he forget that?! The empty hand curling into a fist, he glared at the two human soldiers. Oh well… these two were only armed with stakes. "Simple, Mattie... we kill them."

These pathetic things invade their safe haven and expect them to fold with no resistance? That was never going to happen as long as he was alive. One of the soldiers gave a light shiver at the hostility and promised bloodshed in Alfred's voice, his hair a bit lighter than the others. It was clear they were twins and Feliciano was definitely the more cowardly of the two. He gripped the stake tightly in his hand, trying to be brave, "D-don't you dare come any closer!"

Mathew whimpered slightly again as he nodded. "We don't have any weapons," he whispered back, hoping the invaders would not hear him. "And I'd bet anything that their blood is inedible. What do we do?" He did not fight often - one of the many reasons he had not been assigned any large missions. This sort of thing was completely new - and terrifying - to him. The darker-haired twin, Lovino, nodded in agreement to his brother's words. "I suggest you give up, vampires!" He snapped, trying to sound assertive. He gripped the weapon in his hands just a bit tighter, as if assuring himself that he did indeed have a good defense against the monsters before him.

Alfred did not answer right away, analyzing their opponents... it seemed as though the fairer haired human was more nervous. Obviously he was not a fighter by nature, probably pulled into this raid by a draft. "Take the one on the left... we have to surprise them... get the stake out of their hands and just bite to kill."

That would be the only way they could fight: their fangs. Alfred was more of a soldier than his brother, he hoped that he could take care of the tougher looking human and help out Matthew as soon as possible. Feliciano gulped, staring at the vampires as they in turn were stared down. "Brother... we have to do something..." He murmured, twisting the stake in his hands, though he didn't dare attack first.

Nodding, Mathew swallowed, eyeing the light-haired soldier. He did not look very strong, but he knew better than to assume a person's strength - especially when they were holding the one item capable of ending his life. "Should we attack, then?" he whispered, voice so quietly that it was hardly audible at all.

Lovino nodded tersely. "Yes, I know," he muttered through gritted teeth, glaring back at their opponents. "You know how they're killed. Just stab 'em through the heart and they're gone. Just keep aiming there and they should be down soon enough." His brother was not exactly known for his fighting abilities and he was praying that the other would not mess this up. One screw up could mean death for the both of them, after all.

"Now." Alfred urged, lunging straight for Lovino, growling darkly. His fangs were already out and he tried to get around the human, so as to bite from behind. That way he would not present a target in his chest. To try and make the human soldier nervous he snapped at him, dodging around his arms. 'Come on.' He thought, 'Hesitate... just for a second... give me something...'

Feliciano yelped as the vampire charged them, lifting the stake so that the point was forward. "Help, help helphelphelpme..." He chanted under his breath, running back a few paces.

Hesitating for a few seconds, Mathew followed his brother's lead, running at the twins with his fangs barred. Not exactly thinking through _where _to bite and the best angle to attack from, he charged at the lighter-haired of the two at random, snapping at his arm.

Lovino turned to his brother. "Aim for the heart!" he hissed, doing just this at the American vampire. He thrust the stake out at the other's chest, and growled when he missed by just a few inches. He could feel his heart beating with both fear and adrenaline.

Shit! Alfred's attacks got more frantic as he tried to finish off Lovino quickly. He managed to sink his teeth into the human's arm, but near no important veins. The blood was inedible and he spat it out with a yell when the stake stabbed into his own arm. Hissing, Alfred jumped back, only to lunge forward again with renewed fury.

Yelping each time Matthew got close, Feliciano somehow managed to dodge the Canadian vampire's attacks. Still keeping a death grip on the stake, the Italian lunged, thrusting the wooden weapon forwards, hoping to land a mark. Matthew let out a cry of pain as the stake in his opponent's hand hit his ribcage, not killing him but definitely leaving him in some pain. Crap, he would have to be more careful. That had been extremely close. Lunging forward again, he managed to bite into the other's shoulder for a moment, pulling back at the taste of the inedible blood.

Eyes narrowing, Lovino jumped backwards, knowing perfectly well how dangerous a vampire's fangs could be. He rubbed the bite marks on his arm, cursing silently as he did. He lunged at the other again, stake at hand.

Feli nearly shrieked as he stumbled back, managing to free his shoulder from the vampire's teeth. It just tore the wound more but at least he was free. Trembling and gritting his teeth to keep them from chattering, the Italian soldier readied his stake for another stab. True, he had not _meant _to hit the monster right in the torso but... it was so close. "Y-you are not going to eat me! I don't even taste good!" Feliciano yelled as Matthew came at him again.

Eyes narrowing in an uncharacteristically serious manner, Matthew snapped, "I can't eat you, so you have nothing to worry about there." There was a large amount of anger in his tone. He growled and lunged at the other again, aiming for the other's throat.

Snarling louder than ever, Alfred jumped to the side, managing to dodge the darker haired twin's attack. Normally, it would seem strange, two pairs of twins, one for each side... perhaps he would have laughed. But not now. Alfred was pissed from being wounded and eager to end this fight. Lovino growled and thrust his stake out at the other again, rather blinded by fear at this point and not doing a great job of aiming his attacks. He had been told, of course, that there was a large possibility that he and his brother would end up fighting some vampires, but now that they actually _were_, it was rather... terrifying, really.

Taking a deep breath, Feliciano lifted the stake and lunged forward. At the last moment he closed his eyes, hearing a dull thud and crunch. The sound sent his stomach into the region of his sternum. Swallowing hard he opened his eyes to the feeling of heat moving over his gloved hands... it was blood. With a cry he shoved Matthew away from him, shoving the stake farther into his chest...

Letting out what would have been a scream if he had had the strength for it, Matthew felt tears fill his eyes. He knew all too well what was happening. His eyes darted frantically, searching for his brother, vision too hazy at this point to really make anything out. That sound made Alfred freeze, knocking Lovino off of his feet to be thrown into the wall. He turned, eyes seeking his brother and for the first time in a long while... he sounded afraid. He sounded panicked. "Matthew?!"

Lovino turned in surprise, glancing over to the other Italian and the vampire he was fighting. Or, _had been _fighting. Much to his surprise, he saw that Feliciano had somehow managed a direct hit into his opponent's chest. There was no way the vampire would live at this point.

Alfred felt like he was in shock as he managed to get to Matthew's side, holding him up. Already, so much blood was pouring out of him and the stake was buried so deeply in his brother's chest that only an inch or two of the wood remained outside of his body. The stake had gone into Matthew's heart and he had seconds, a rather cruel twist of fate for vampires. Their bodies would struggle to heal, to keep living, prolonging their death where a human would have perished instantly. For the moment, all thought of fighting and fleeing was gone from Alfred's mind as he clung tightly to the other vampire. Rather fortunately for him, both of the humans were frozen as well... "Mattie! Mattie, hang on!" Even though he knew it was useless, Alfred kept yelling.

The Canadian vampire made a sound that he had intended to be his brother's name, eyes half closed now. His breathing was uneven and shaky now, and part of him was just begging to die already. Both his vision and thoughts were blurry, nothing was making sense. But... this could not just be it, could it? He was dying. Because of that human, no less. Once again, he tried and failed to say Alfred's name.

Lovino stared, a part of him reminding him that this was the perfect chance to attack Alfred as well, but... he could not. He was fixated on the sight before him, shocked that Feliciano had actually managed to _kill _that monster. Speaking of Feliciano, the man was rooted to the spot, trembling from head to toe. He knew that he should be celebrating, but on the other hand... death, things like that, it disgusted him. He had only joined this fight to stay with his brother...

"Don't... don't say anything just... just concentrate on healing yourself... okay?" Alfred's voice was rising more and more in panic as he tried to decide to pull out the stake or not. Dammit, where were edible humans when you needed them?! Wouldn't some fresh blood let his brother live?! He tried to tell himself that as he watched his twin dying in his arms. "Please, Matthew."

Giving a weak nod to the other, Mathew closed his eyes. The fact that this was more comfortable, as if he did not want to open his eyes once they had closed, scared him a bit, and he opened them once more. He did not want to die. He had relied on the idea of being basically immortal. Had depended on it, even. The thought of death became something he could just dismiss. And now... now here he was, in his brother's arms, dying. The thought made a few tears roll down his cheeks.

"F- Feli?" asked Lovino rather quietly, wetting his lips with his tongue as he spoke. "We should..." What should they do? Retreat? Kill Alfred too? He was not sure, honestly. He gripped the wooden stake still in his hands tighter than ever.

"Let's just leave..." Feliciano said, hands curled into fists. He felt... very vulnerable, even though his opponent was dying and the other vampire was... not paying attention. For some reason, the sight unnerved him.

"Mattie... don't die." Alfred murmured, trying to keep his own tears at bay. There was no way he was going to let his brother see him falling apart. He had to stay strong... Alfred's words made the Canadian vampire let out a weak whimper of... he was not even sure what emotions he was feeling anymore. Fear? Sadness? Anger? Regret? They were all negative. Negative emotions all pointing toward the same sentence that was repeatedly going through his mind – this _can't_ be it. He can't be dying. Not now.

Nodding, Lovino took a few steps toward his brother, equally shaken by the whole event. He was not sure why. He, like every other soldier currently attacking the vampire's hideaway, knew perfectly well that these creatures were to be put down, not important enough to go on living life. "Let's... get going. We should report back to Mei." He sighed.

He did not need telling twice. The lighter haired Italian took off back around the corner, grasping his brother's sleeve to pull him along. As Lovino exited with his brother, he forced himself to think of... anything else. Why the scene back there had gotten to him, he did not know. But he did not at all like how shaken up he was. Turning back to his brother, he murmured, "You... uh, did a good job there. Taking out that vampire, I mean."

For once, Feli didn't respond verbally, just nodded and kept running. He didn't want to think about it... He just wanted to leave.

Alfred didn't even look up; he only had eyes for his own dying sibling. "Sh-should I take it out?" He managed to choke out the suggestion, looking down at the bloody wound. Mathew managed a weak shrug. Did it even matter anymore? It was not like that would help the wound, or take away any of the pain coursing through his entire body. He forced his eyes away from his brother, unable to look at him any longer, sobbing weakly. Not knowing what to do, Alfred just tried to make Matthew comfortable. He lowered his brother to the floor, half holding him. Even though he had offered to remove the stake... he didn't have the heart for it.

Tears still rolling down his face but no longer having the strength to even cry, Mathew succumbed to the urge to close his eyes, feeling weaker with each passing second. And... Tired, even. Or something close to it. There was still fear, and pain, but something else was there entirely now. For a final time, he tried to murmur his brother's name…

Looking up from his papers, Ludwig called Yao over. "Sir!" He showed the newly printed report to the higher ranking officer. "They have reached the vampire's hide out and destroyed everything... many of the creatures are dead, but it is believed that some, along with their human sympathizers have fled the base..."

Making eye contact with Yao he asked, "What are your orders? Do we pursue the rest of them?"

Yao blinked. They... had actually succeeded? They had found them, even killed many of them? "G- Good," he replied, stunned. "I do hope that those who managed to escape were smart enough to leave the city, aru."

Pausing, Yao thought for a moment before continuing, "Tell the others to follow whatever trails they can find, try their best to catch up with the vampires who fled." He finally decided. "Is that all?" He made a mental note to go tell Leon of what was happening.

Nodding, Ludwig left the room to send the order to Mei. With luck... this meant that things would be getting back to normal and hopefully get rid of their captive.

As soon as the other was gone, Yao rushed to the dungeons, not even stopping to consider how strange it was that he was so eager to talk to a vampire. "Leon!" he called out, surprised by the tone he used. "You'll never guess what happened!"

The vampire was sitting in the corner of the cell, leaning against the bars, his head bowed, which snapped up at the sound of his name. Leon got up, feeling something like anticipation rising in him as he looked out at Yao. "What is it? What happened?!" He sounded both excited and fearful. Yao walked up so he was facing the bars, not stopping to consider that being so close to a vampire could be dangerous. "We found them! You were right, the other vampires were right where you said they were! We got most of them, but a few of them fled. It doesn't matter though, what's important is that we _did _it!" He smiled.

Leon was silent for a long time. He felt... shocked. He couldn't even feel angry or sad yet... Finally, he managed to speak, but it was strangled, "We did it...?" The wording stood out in his mind as strange. It managed to distract him from this strange lack of emotion.

Not bothering to think over the strangeness of his own wording, Yao nodded. "Yes, **we **did it." Oh, had he meant to put so much emphasis on that particular word? Oh well, it did not really matter, did it? "The war will be won in no time at all now! Word is coming in that the secret strongholds are being raided all over the world! Even if the others refuse to surrender, there's no way they'll last much longer anyway!"

"I'm... happy for you I suppose..." Leon said, voice still quiet and rather strangled. He stepped away from the bars, rather certain of what this meant. "I'm not a tracker... I can't lead you to the escapees... Even if I was, I wouldn't."

For the first time since Yao had heard the news of the mission, he felt his whole body freeze, certain his heart had stopped beating for a moment. He could not stop it from happening any longer, could he? No longer did he have a good excuse for keeping the other alive. He truly was not needed at all anymore. "I..." Like so many other times Yao had been around the vampire, he found himself at a loss for words.

Leon did nothing to help Yao find his words this time. He just stared straight into the human's eyes. If he was going to die, he wanted to hear it from Yao himself... and not to give the human an out this time.

Sighing, Yao finally was able to mutter, "I... don't think you're needed much now. I mean, you've... done everything we needed you to do, haven't you?" The words were surprisingly difficult to get out, and left him feeling slightly sick to his stomach. "I'll talk to Ludwig, but my bet is you'll be put down by tomorrow night, aru." He hated himself for how hard it was for him to speak, how much his entire body was begging him to just stop talking.

Leon felt a chill come over him and he backed up all the way to the far wall of the cell. Suddenly, he could not wait to be left alone. "If that is what you want..." He said a flash in his eyes for the first time in a long while as he glared at the human.

Noticing the look in the other's eyes, Yao almost felt bad. **No**, he could not feel that way. There was nothing between them. Leon was a vampire, he was a human. Things had to go back to the way they were - the way they were supposed to be. "Fine, vampire." He spat, eyes narrowing. With that, he turned and exited. "Make the most of your last night alive, aru!" he called, voice taunting and bitter. Once he had exited, he found himself close to sobbing. Why? Why was he so _weak_ around that stupid creature?! Maybe putting him down really was for the best...

Yao walked around a bit, too dazed to really decide where he wanted to go. Finally, he came to the recreation room where he found Ludwig. "Uh, I need to talk to you," he murmured, voice quieter than he had intended. Why did he sound so upset? Nothing was worth being _this_ sad over, especially something as silly as a vampire's life.

Looking up from just hanging up the phone, Ludwig rose from the seat at his desk. "Yes, sir, what is it?" He tried to hold back his anticipation... hopefully, with the stronghold destroyed... it would mean that their prisoner could be executed.

"I think..." Yao paused, feeling tears threaten to form in his eyes. No, no, _no_. He could not cry over this. "I think that Le- I mean, I think that the vampire should be killed. Soon." The sooner the better, Yao decided. He needed to get his mind off of all of this. And hopefully, once Leon was gone, he would actually be able to focus on the war once again.

Ludwig nodded, accepting these orders easily. In fact, he was rather happy to hear them. But at the same time... "Is everything alright, sir?" He asked, raising a brow as he looked over the higher ranking man.

Surprised by the question, Yao nodded. "I'm fine, aru." He answered, tone flat. He knew he was probably a sight, trying so hard to keep in the amount of emotions wanting to just explode within him at the moment. Heaving a long, heavy sigh, the other turned away. "Just... get it done, okay? I'll be in my room."

"Yes, sir." Ludwig replied, saluting the man as he walked away. Now, he let his true emotions show, grinning to himself he gave the order to have a stake made. Best to do things the traditional way, right?

Left alone, Leon sat down, fingers curled into fists so tight he'd be surprised if he wasn't making himself bleed. Hissing he tried to hold back the sudden waves of emotion that had refused to make themselves known before now... anger, sadness, and fear... Gasping he buried his face against his knees and managed to hold his silence... Leon hadn't felt this strong a desire to live since he'd become a vampire...

_Leon was the only child of a pair of average, mild-mannered parents. It saddened him that nothing beyond what they looked like had lingered in his memory. Another downside of being a vampire, precious little memories like the personality of one's own parents slip away. Then again, those first few years had all been about exploring, trying to learn about his new life._

_Just over thirty years ago, he'd still been human. It didn't seem like such a long time ago, but then again, he hadn't been back to China since his turning…_

_Though he had moved out of his parent's house at eighteen, he saw them often. And, when news reached them that his second-aunt, his favorite aunt despite the lack of blood relation, was pregnant they decided to take a trip to visit her together. Yi Mei Wang lived in the heart of Beijing, China's capital city. Leon, who was known as Xiang in his human life, despite traveling around most of the country, had never been to the capital._

_After leaving the airport they decided to walk the late afternoon streets instead of taking a cab or some form of public transportation. The trek was a little long, but it didn't bother Xiang, who was more worried about his mother. In the end, it really wouldn't matter._

_They were passing by an empty, shadowed lot between two buildings when a young man jumped out of the shade towards them. "Excuse me…" His Mandarin was rather broken and choppy. A foreigner? Leon's understanding of English was limited, they wouldn't be able to help him if he needed directions…_

_The man had short red hair and a slightly disheveled appearance. A silver hoop hung from one of his ears. "I'm a little lost. Do you mind sparing some change for a cab?"_

_Xian would have handed the man some money, but his father shook his head and attempted to push passed the foreigner. Only to be shoved back rather roughly. Everything after that happened so quickly. Three others then stepped out of the shadows, dragging them back into the garbage filled lot._ _The red head smirked down at them, "We really are starving, if only you'd lent us some cash and we'd of been on our way."_

_He grinned, showing canines that were far too long and large to be natural. Xiang's mother started to scream, only to be cut off rather quickly by a wet sound. Xiang felt something wet splatter his clothing and his skin prickled, throat going dry. Don't look… don't look…_ _But he couldn't help himself. He could hear his father lunge at the men, only to be knocked down rather easily. There were cruel laughs and more wet, ripping sounds. But he couldn't look away from the horrific sight of his mother's body. Her throat ripped out, sending more and more red into the air. One of the men had opened his mouth, eagerly drinking down the flow. He was going to be sick…_

"_Hey!" Hands grabbed him, fingers fisting in his hair, tilting his head back. Xiang couldn't even scream before there were teeth sinking into him; tearing into his neck, his arms, and his legs. All was pain and blood… They took turns, tossing about his body and that of his families as though they were toys. A few moments of drinking before a new flash of pain as someone else took a bite._

"_Honestly…" Came a rather disgruntled, accented voice, floating to him through the thickening haze. He was speaking English… The vampire that had been about to take another bite threw him onto the dirt ground of the vacant lot. With blurry eyes, Leon caught sight of a shock of blond hair and the glint of sunglasses under the still fading sunlight. The blond man walked over to him, glancing over his trembling form on the ground. Leon could not see the eyes that lay behind the glasses, but the man's lips were pressed into a hard, angry line._

"_I leave you lot alone for a single day and already you're out causing a mess!" The man snarled, whirling on the vampires who took a few steps back. Oh. Some small part of Leon's mind that had maintained rationality despite the incredible pain, took notice that this blond man (another vampire?) was in charge. Sure enough, sunglasses settled into a bossy tone, instructing the others on where to take the bodies. "We can't have other people getting suspicious. You know what we're working for! Lazy buggers how could you fuck this up?!"_

"_Can you blame us little brother?" The red headed vampire said, hoisting Xiang's father's corpse over his back, "Ivan's rules are pathetic! They're going to make us star-"_

_He was cut off by a quick blow to his gut. "Just get them out of here. Now!" Sunglasses growled. There were no more arguments._

_One of the other vampires bent over him, taking note that Leon was still breathing, and a wicked glint came into his eye. No. Nonono. He did not want to die like this. He was NOT going to die like this!_

"_Hold it." Someone grabbed the back of the vampire's neck, dragging him to his feet and shoving him to the side. "I'll get this one." It was sunglasses._

_The blond knelt beside him, pulling away the tinted shades. His eyes were a bright green and more than a little cold looking. They made Leon shiver. Or they would have, if he could find his limbs to make them tremble. Sunglasses considered him for a moment longer before something in his cold gaze softened, "I'll make it quick, kid."_

_Hands reached for his neck and… _"_Don't…"_

_The vampire hesitated, frowning down at him. "What?"_

"_I don't…" It was hard to breathe, his lungs felt like they weighed a ton. It took minutes… no hours to draw a single breath. "I don't… want to die."_

_That wish burned through him, letting him glare up at the green eyed man, even though the ever thickening haze of pain. Was he imagining it or did he see a glimmer of curiosity in sunglasses' eyes?_

"_And if you could keep living… no matter what, would you do it?" The man's voice was so soft that Leon almost missed his words. But, he seized the opportunity._

"_Yes."_

_The blond man smirked, but nodded. "I don't think I've had a kid in a while. I'll give you a shot. What's your name?"_

"_X-Xiang Li."_

_A low whistle, "Got something I can say, lad?"_

"_Leon…" It was what all of his American friends had called him. Sunglasses nodded again, leaning over him. His form blocked out the setting sun. "Well Leon, I'm not going to lie, this is going to be scary. Think you can handle it?"_

"_Just do it already." If he could have shouted he would have. But, the vampire seemed to accept his haste. Once again, teeth sank into the skin of his neck. More and more of his precious blood was sipped away. Everything was fading… And then, the dulling pressure on his body was gone. Something warm was dripping over his lips._

"_Drink, Leon Li."_

_The command seemed to trigger something inside of him. Somehow, he found the strength to open his mouth and drink the vampire's blood. The red liquid was hot; there was not much flavor, at least, nothing that he could describe in terms of human food. But it felt _good _to drink it. Leon did not pause to marvel at this discovery, that drinking blood could feel good. He just kept drinking until the flow stopped. It was warm now, he was no longer in pain, but everything was still fading. He was still dying._

"_This is the hard part, Leon. Try to stay calm." That far away voice had to be Sunglasses. Stay calm for what? Wasn't that how a person became a vampire? You swapped blood? Like in the movies._

_He didn't see it coming or sense it in any way, shape or form. Hands and arms wrapped around his head and neck. A perverse too tight hug. A final flash of pain. The sense of hearing the sickening crunch of his neck breaking. Nothing…_

"_As Arthur Kirkland, I command you to awaken: Leon Li-Kirkland."_

_Leon opened his eyes. He was awake. He was alive. He was a vampire._

~End of Chapter 6~


	8. Chapter 7

**(AN: Thank you for reading so far in our joint fan-fiction. We hope you have enjoyed the ride and are looking forward to this new installment~ Yes, this chapter is shorter. Sorry… BY THE WAY: Fangirly and I have decided that the 20****th**** person to review will get to request a one shot for us to write on. Have something you've always wanted to see but never had the energy to write it yourself? Here's your chance!)**

Somewhere in Amiens, France:

The group of survivors had not stopped driving until the sun started to appear in the horizon and Raj, along with the other drivers, were nearly falling asleep at the wheel. For shelter they'd managed to find a ghost town, one of the cities destroyed by the war and no longer inhabited... Sticking together, the basement of the former city hall was their hideout. The once grand building was nothing more than rotting wood, crumbling stone, and cracked floors littered with broken glass. It was always disheartening to see how so many cities could be wiped of life… It reminded the survivors of what they left behind… All that remained of the West Vampire Resistance's head strong hold was five vampires and fifteen humans.

While the shelter itself was not very great, that was the least of Arthur's concerns. He could not believe it, what had happened. Just when they had started to hit a turning point, everything became even worse than before. How many had been killed? How many had escaped and were now desperately trying to find the rest of the group? And what would they do now?

As much as Arthur wanted to dwell on these thoughts, try to process what was happening, he found himself growing very tired. Morning, he decided. In the morning he would go and find Raj, and talk to him about this. Maybe he would have a better sense of how to deal with what was happening. The weary group settled in for the night, vampires and humans alike lying together in a jumbled mess of bodies and blankets. For a few blessed hours they attempted to lose their fear of death to sleep.

In the morning, the groups got together, working to keep the vampires fed, since they were the best form of protection. For now, everyone seemed to be comfortable with getting along and several of the remaining vampires offered to venture outside in order to find food for the humans. Raj spotted Arthur and waved him over, "Are you alright?"

Hearing Raj's voice, the British vampire smiled. He waved to the other and said, "Oh, hello, Raj." Chewing on his lip, he found himself at a loss for words. What was there to say, anyway? He settled with staring at the ground, sighing half-heartedly.

Ducking his head to keep eye contact with the blond man, Raj frowned slightly. "You're worried about the others aren't you? ... I'm sure that everyone is alright... most of them were trained in fighting and had gone against humans before..." Raj reasoned, trying to calm his friend, though he did not believe the soothing words himself.

Nodding, Arthur looked back up. Even if he was just as worried as before, hearing the other try to reason with him was definitely comforting. "I suppose you're right," he agreed. "And besides, at least we're still okay, right?" He smiled once more.

"Yes... we're still okay..." Raj looked over to the other groups; the vampires sent for food were coming back, having managed to find some supplies. "... Arthur, do you think that we will be able to find more vampires? We... we can't be all that's left, it would be ridiculous. Err... you can't be all that's left." He reasoned.

Arthur sighed. "I... don't know." He admitted. And he was telling the truth. Honestly, he had not seen many others escaping, and the humans were strong - much stronger than they were, by now. If others did escape, there would not be many, and they would all be very weak. He bit down on his lower lip, not sure what to do anymore.

Arthur's uncertainty was infections. Despite his resolve to remain at least a bit chipper for the sake of the other survivors, Raj let out a little sigh, leaning against the wall and sliding down it until he was seated on the floor. "... I see..." Running fingers through his hair, the darker skinned man murmured, "What do we do...?"

"Is there anything we can do?" Arthur asked with a bit of anger in his tone. Not at Raj, or the other vampires, or even really the other humans. Just... anger. "Ugh, everything is so damn hopeless right now. I don't even know how we're supposed to _survive_ this, let alone fight back anymore!"

The blond vampire's voice was carrying, attracting the attention of the others who looked around with worried expressions. Raj just shook his head, motioning for Arthur to quiet down a little. Panic could not be spread in this situation. "And you think I have the answers?" He closed his eyes, as though this partial darkness would allow a small escape from reality, "Angh... I don't know what to do... but..." Opening his eyes again he said, "We need direction. If we are going to survive we need someone to lead us..."

"I wonder if Roderich survived," Arthur wondered aloud, making the connection thanks to Raj's comment. "I didn't see him leave the hideout." The thought worried him. While he did not agree with everything he had said, Roderich had been their leader, and he knew how chaotic things could be if no one was chosen to lead them.

"I hope... for all our sakes that he did." Raj said, sighing as he remained on the ground, "If not... one of the elder vampires here will probably take charge..." Looking toward the doors he asked, "Should... should we try to find the others? Maybe someone survived?"

Arthur shrugged. "Would it be safe?" While the idea of going out to find others, hopefully even Roderich, he did not want anyone else - especially not Raj - to get injured. He held out a hand for the other. "Here, stand up. Even if we don't go out anywhere, we should probably find _something_ to do." He smiled, trying to stay a bit more cheerful than he had been. "No point in sitting around complaining, is there?"

Taking Arthur's hand, Raj rose to his feet nodding. "Yes, of course… Do you think it would be a good idea to join the group scouting the southern part of the city?"

Shrugging again, the British vampire replied, "I don't really care, anything to get my mind off of everything that's happened lately." Was there really anything that could do that? Arthur was not sure. However, whether it took his thoughts off of everything or not, a change of pace for once would be nice.

"Lets take a look around. Even if we aren't seeking out survivors... we could at least try to find more supplies for everyone." Raj offered, gesturing to the doors. He wanted to be doing something just as much as Arthur.

Was this their life now? Running from place to place constantly haunted and hunted by forces much stronger than their own? The human swallowed hard, trying to control the constricting ball of fear in his chest. This was no way to live… if something did not change they would either get killed by the human forces or perish in some other way for sure… Raj did not voice any of these opinions, opting to hold his tongue for the others. For Arthur. The anger, no the rage, he had glimpsed in the vampire's eyes was unsettling. He knew that no matter what the other had said about him… Raj had a sinking feeling that the British man would only be satisfied if the other humans were dead at his feet.

For the most part, their little search party found no signs of life. But, there was some food to be found in the basement of Amines' cathedral, much to the humans' pleasure. Tucking away the last of some canned vegetables in his bag, Raj followed the group back to their temporary shelter for the night, Arthur in tow. It seemed as though walking through the city had calmed him some. Perhaps all he'd really needed was to get out of the small dark spaces that they had been hiding in?

When they arrived the rest of the survivors were already waiting for them, some looked nervous. "We heard a—" One of the humans started to explain but was interrupted by the sound of a truck driving up the road. For a moment, it seemed as though the humans had found them again... until Alfred and three others got out of the truck. One of them was Kiku and the other two were not known by name to Arthur and Raj.

Anxious to hear of what had happened once they had escaped, Arthur was rather desperate to get to Alfred. Making his way up to the American vampire, Arthur eyed him for a moment. He looked healthy enough, but also very... empty. The sight worried the Brit a bit, but he knew he probably had a similar look to him.

Seeing as no one else was asking anything, he took it upon himself to ask, "What happened?"

Alfred's eyes had a dulled look to them, shaded and much more cold than normal. That fast-paced energy he normally projected was gone as well, and Kiku looked more somber than ever. "The humans came faster than we thought they would... most of us weren't ready...Matthew was killed..."

Here, he faltered, and Kiku stepped up. "Roderich, Francis, and many of the others were also killed... I can't say how many escaped besides us but..." He didn't need to clarify. The chances of any more survivors from this particular stronghold was... slim to none. And the death of their leader: salt in the wound.

For a long time, Arthur did not have a reply. Instead, he just felt a huge amount of different emotions build up inside of him. Mathew was... dead? The thought made a strange new feeling burst out of him. He thought back to when he had walked in on him and Raj, and that emotion he had felt earlier. Why in the world was he... was he actually...

No, he was not happy. He was not even relieved. He could not be relieved over the death of someone on their side. The very idea of it was absurd. "I... I'm sorry, Alfred." He finally managed. Turning to Kiku, he asked, "Well, what now?" It was the one question he had been asking _himself_ since the humans had attacked - maybe the Japanese vampire would have an answer for him.

Kiku frowned, thinking long and hard as Alfred was led away by another vampire to be fed along with the other survivors. Sighing, the black haired vampire turned to his green-eyed former team member, "We need a new leader... that much is certain. And I think... I think we have no chance of winning this war. But, I DO think we have a chance for survival..."

He glanced at Raj, who felt the familiar prickle of unease and annoyance go through him. Even at a time like this, were vampires so unwilling to put faith into the few humans who sided with them? Perhaps Kiku read something in his expression for he continued with, "I think we should try to find allies who are in other countries and go completely underground, go where humans cannot find us and rely on the humans that are loyal."

Nodding, Arthur found himself relieved to even hear some sort of plan. "Sounds like a pretty decent idea," he agreed thoughtfully. Still, the idea of not winning, of not even having a solid chance anymore... The British vampire sighed. "I just wish we could have... done more, really. Even if we did not manage to beat the humans, I wish we could have found some way to prove that we weren't so... _weak_."

He remembered beginning this war, how angry he had felt. He had been desperate to just... destroy everyone against him. That anger had resurfaced when the strong hold had crumbled. But… Now, he just wanted his species to have some sort of chance. He glanced over at Raj. What would become of him, after all of this?

"We cannot change things, Arthur... we just have to keep moving forward. I'll spread the word on our plan." Kiku said, looking between the vampire and human standing beside him. Giving the pair a nod, he left.

Raj turned to Arthur, "I know you wanted to win but... at least this way we aren't dead? This is better than that... isn't it?" He asked softly.

Was it better? Was sitting around, less than thirty people even on their side anymore, with nothing to do but wait to be defeated, really better than death? Arthur was not sure. Maybe others would instantly think so, but he had never been the type to look on the positive side of extremely negative situations. "I... don't know," he replied honestly, looking into his friend's eyes with a strange amount of uncertainty.

"All I know is..." He thought for a moment, "I'm glad you've been here through all of this. It's probably the only reason I've been able to stay sane." He felt a bit like he was repeating himself - at the beginning of this whole thing, had he not said something very similar? Oh well, it was the truth, after all.

Raj remembered, and Arthur's words were almost verbatim to the night after the first time they'd decided to join the war and fight with the vampires... "I know. I'm glad that you've been here for me as well... if I was alone..." He trailed off, not wanting to dwell on something like that. Raj shook his head, taking Arthur's hand, "I'm just happy that we are still alive and still together. It's..." Where were these words coming from? "It's good enough for me."

Feeling his face heat up at these words, Arthur bit down on his lower lip. He mentally cursed himself for acting in such a way. After all, it was not like Raj's words meant anything other than... friendship. Of course not. "Yes, exactly. I'm... glad we see eye to eye."

Part of the British vampire knew the statement was a lie. His thoughts were not even human anymore, there was no way he and a _human_ could truly agree. But no, he could not think too hard on that. Raj was his friend. If he categorized him as human than he would be no worse than all of the other vampires… Other… Arthur's eyes suddenly went wide and his knees gave out from under him. What was this feeling?!

A burst of panic went through Raj as Arthur seemed to go into a daze and sink to his knees. "Arthur?!" The blond vampire was clutching at his chest, eyes seeing things that none of them could. With a shaky breath he murmured a single word. Not so much as murmured as let out a weak moan of pain and horror, "Leon…"

Le Harve, Human Base

A few hours earlier:

Once to his room, Yao found himself collapsing on his bed, feeling a small sense of deja vu as he did so. Unable to stop himself, he found tears rolling down his face, gripping to his pillow as if his life depended on it. He was not sobbing, really, just... unable to hold back tears any longer.

It was strange, really. It had been so long since he had cried. Why was he doing it now? Why in the world were his emotions running so out of control?

By morning, everything was nearly ready... Ludwig knocked on Yao's door and informed him of the vampire's execution time. "Sir, the orders have been cleared and that vampire is scheduled to be executed at three this evening."

Yao sat up, immediately embarrassed by the fact that there were still tears stained to his eyes and cheeks. Frowning, he called out, "Okay, th- thank you for telling me, aru!" Sighing, the commander found himself simply sitting there for a while, not doing anything, wondering what to do with himself.

Unlike Yao, Leon could not seem to sit still. He had not slept the entire night and was now pacing his cell, as though his body was trying to move as much as possible in the small amount of time left to him. This was it... he as going to die... Leon took a shuddering breath, feeling salt in his throat, but he had no more tears in him. Even if he could cry, he wouldn't allow himself. When the humans came for him... he was going to be strong.

A pair of soldiers whose names he did not know collected him from the cell, one trained a gun on him while the other bound his hands behind his back. Not that it mattered, he had not eaten for a day. They lead him up, out of the dungeons, to the back of the base where there was an empty space. A few soldiers had come around to watch him die, but not many. It probably wasn't exciting for them, to see a weakened vampire executed. Strangely, he found himself looking for Yao...

Finding nothing to do with his day, Yao had ended up walking around the halls, telling anyone who asked what he was doing that he was "patrolling". The answer did not even make sense, but he really had no reason for his motives. He just... did not know what to do with himself.

Sighing, the Chinese man glanced up at a nearby clock, surprised to see that it was extremely close to Leon's execution. In fact, if he did not get over there now, he would probably miss it. However, did... did he really want to see it? No, he decided. This was important. It would... finish it for him, make sure he truly knew that anything that there had been between them was gone forever.

Leon was tied down on his back a top a simple wooden table. It seemed as though the aggressive blond soldier he had seen Yao speaking to a couple of times was going to be killing him, he was clutching a wooden stake and crude hammer in his hands. He also seemed... unusually happy about it. As though this was some sort of personal victory... The pleasure in the soldier's face made Leon feel sick to his stomach and he closed his eyes, not wanting to watch the end coming...

Feeling surprisingly empty inside, Yao turned a corner, almost certain he knew where the room the execution would be taking place was. Just a week or so ago, _he_ would have been the one killing. The one standing there with a certain sort of excitement at the very idea of seeing another one of their enemies crushed.

Yao made it to the room in question, staring at the doors for a moment before pushing them open and entering. Glancing around, he felt his heart sink a bit when he saw Leon, tied down, only minutes away from death.

Unable to help himself, the sound of doors opening prompted Leon to open his eyes. It surprised him and for some reason... comforted him to see Yao standing there. Even though the last conversation he had had with the human was ugly, he also realized that he'd been craving to see Yao again. It didn't even bother him that it was wrong to feel that way, he was about to die after all. Where was the harm? He had gotten attached, hopelessly attached to Yao... Leon didn't regret that, no one knew how he felt. At least, his feelings couldn't pose a danger to Yao, not now.

Yao stared at the other for a moment before looking away. He could not look at him. He found himself feeling extremely guilty over all of this. Over their last conversation, over what was about to take place. Unlike Leon, who was able to admit to himself that he had developed some sort of attachment to the other, Yao was unable to think such things. On the contrary, he was still deep in denial, refusing to believe it. Refusing to believe that that vampire could really mean something to him at all.

Ludwig watched Yao walk in, he still seemed... different, distracted and almost weak. This thought fueled more hatred for the vampire on the table. This damned monster had cost him a good leader!

Leon's gaze was shifted away from Yao as the stake sank into his chest unexpectedly. A scream left him, back arching and pressing up into that bit of wood… only slightly? Pain seemed to be creating a haze around him, but was Ludwig holding him down to keep himself from being impaled further by the stake?! There was so much contempt and rage in the human's eyes... Leon knew that this man was going to drag this out for as long as he possibly could.

The screaming. It was too much. Yao closed his eyes, wanting to cover his ears. Wanting to stop it. Wanting to just yell out and stop it all from happening. Wanting to just-

"Stop!"

Yao's eyes opened, shocked by his own words, that the word had actually managed to escape his lips. He stared at Leon, face going completely pale and breath becoming unsteady.

His own breath ragged with pain was being sucked through clenched teeth and fangs as he stared unbelievingly at Yao. Had he really... just called for the execution to be stopped?!

Ludwig stared at the commanding officer, his own eyes wide with shock. "Stop, sir?"

It would be so easy; to press down a little more and kill the vampire, but there were too many eyes on him now, waiting to see his reaction. "Y-yes, sir." Ludwig grudgingly pulled the stake free of the vampire's body and stepped back.

Yao stared from Leon to Ludwig, mind racing, trying desperately to fix this. Everyone was staring. At him, at Ludwig, at Leon. He had made a mess of things. Taking a few steps forward, he swallowed hard, realizing he was shaking now. "I... I don't want..." No, that was not the right thing to say here at all. Correcting himself, he changed his statement to,

"I think he could... still be useful to us." A lie.

"What?" The stake cracked against the table, splintering against it. Ludwig stared at Yao, "How can he be useful?! Sir, forgive me, but we need to kill him now!"

Leon's mind was foggy from the pain, but he could still hear the conversation. But, it was as though the words were slow, only sinking into his brain after a long time. Was Yao saving him?

"No!" Yao's voice cracked a bit with desperation. Trying to regain some sort of sanity in his tone, he took a deep breath. "What if I found a way to... stop it. Stop vampires from being... vampires?" He was spewing nonsense now, he knew. There was no way; it had been tried countless times in the past with no avail. And yet, if his bluff saved Leon, it would be worth deceiving his fellow humans. "He would be the perfect... test... subject..." He found his voice getting quieter with each word.

For a long moment, it seemed as though everyone was deeply shocked. Finally, one of the others stepped forward. "I think that it would be a good idea." The soldier said. "We could wipe them out in another way, even keep humans from being turned into them."

Nodding anxiously, Yao spoke once more. "Do you see? Other's agree with me as well, aru! So let me have the vampire. I'll take care of him, he'll be entirely my responsibility. If something happens because of him, I will take full blame." He clenched his hands into fists, desperate to keep Leon alive by this point. "Please, don't kill him."

Slowly, Ludwig backed away. He still glared at the vampire but didn't seem to be making moves to attack him or try to kill him. The group around the table dissipated, but at the same time no one made a move to free Leon from the table. They accepted it to be Yao's responsibility.

Glancing up Leon's hazy gaze found Yao. He tried to talk but nothing came out the first time. Trying again, he murmured, "Yao... why?"

Not responding, Yao quietly walked over, untying Leon and freeing him. The thought of it being dangerous to be near a free vampire did not even cross his mind when he spoke. "I... don't know, aru." His voice was quiet, meant for Leon's ears alone. The feelings that had been overpowering him before were finally dying down, leaving behind shame and fear. What had he _done_?!

~End of Chapter 7~

**(Once again, sorry this is so short. If we don't have anything ready before Christmas/New Years (Which we probably won't because I don't have it ready…) Happy holidays~!)**


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